The Skinner Family Adventures

2012-01-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

We have a new member of our family as well as a new Family Webpage!

To get to our new page and to read about our new baby Reagan click HERE.

8 Months Pregnant

2011-11-17T13:51:00.001-08:00

EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT!
I thought I would take some time to update you all on the pregnant life...I LOVE being pregnant! I have been so blessed to have such a phenomenal pregnancy: no morning sickness, swelling (so far), crazy hormones, or even food cravings or aversions. I've been able (up until now) to maintain life as usual, going to the gym (although toning it way down), hiking, etc...It's been so fun watching baby girl grow inside of me. She moves a TON! Jesse and I get such a kick out of watching my stomach morph and shake as she does her nightly aerobics. :)

GREAT RESOURCES
Some books that have been really inspiring to me during this time include:

"Supernatural Childbirth" by Jackie Mize
"Real Food for Mother and Baby" by Nina Planck
"God's Plan for Pregnancy" by Walker
"Pregnancy and Childbirth" by Kitzenger

I love reading about God's plan for pregnancy. And we love reading the Word over our little girl. Every night Jesse does story time from a chapter of the Bible and we call her spirit to attention to listen to the words spoken. It's so much fun knowing her little spirit is absorbing every word of life!

THE SCARE
While my pregnancy had been going so great, on Wednesday November 9th I had a bit of a scare. I woke up with bleeding and we rushed to the ER. On the way there my body was trembling but God gave me so much peace. I kept speaking life to my little girl and suddenly I felt her kicking inside me which was a huge relief. At the hospital they found the bleeding was coming from my uterus. An ultrasound found a spot on my placenta they described as a clot. But ultrasound gives such a poor picture of what's going on inside so it was hard to determine what was going on. To be safe, they went with the worst case scenario which was abruption (where the placenta begins to separate from the uterine wall). The good news was the bleeding had stopped and baby's heart rate was never compromised, but my contractions (which I luckily couldn't feel) were coming every 2 minutes. Not good.

So they put me on a 24 hour IV drip of magnesium which made me feel like lead, but it slowed the contractions and gave baby's brain a boost in case of emergency C-section. They also gave me a shot of steriods to boost baby's lung development in case she was going to be breathing air that day.

DIAGNOSIS?
Praise God everything stabilized by the second day. They took me off the nasty Mag drip but kept me hooked up with IV fluids and a fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor. Not easy to sleep with all that! Jesse stayed with me the whole time on a big reclining chair. He was such a champ. And so full of hope and peace for me. We filled the room with soaking music and kept our minds in a place of worship. I had a 2nd bout of bleeding day 2, which was scary, but that stopped again and didn't return. My contractions slowed and by Sunday they were talking about sending me home. While it was still unclear the exact diagnosis, by the third ultrasound it was determined that the "clot" looked more like a lobe of the placenta that had bled (lots of blood vessels!) and then clotted off. Regardless, if they were talking about sending me home, they weren't worried about abruption.

THE NURSES GET ROCKED!
While we would have never chosen to have to face such a scary situation, we rejoice in the fact that we had so many opportunities to fill that hospital with life. One nurse came into our room the first day and said, "Wow, it feels so good in here! I could just take a nap."

Another nurse who had come in to draw my blood (which they did every 6 hours), had a radical encounter with God when we prayed for her arthritis. Jesse had noticed her doing something odd with her hands and asked what was wrong. She said the arthritis was so bad it was making her hands go numb and threatening to take away the job she loved. We asked if we could pray and in agreement she eagerly grabbed our hands. We asked Holy Spirit to come and arthritis to go. When we finished she said, "Wow my hands feel really tingly. This is new. And, O my goodness! I can feel the knuckle on my pinkie!" Her pinkie had been completely numb for years and she often burned it because she couldn't feel it. She had to leave quickly to be with other patients but was so excited about what God was doing.

Two days later she was back, hustling into our room exclaiming, "O my goodness you guys, I'm so glad to see you! Ever since I met you guys I've been talking to "The Man Upstairs" more than ever. I even got my husband, who doesn't believe in healing or praying out loud, to pray out loud with me. And I have more movement in my hands then I have in years and I can still feel my pinkie!" She was beaming. The love of God had encountered her and we knew she would never be the same.

By the end of our five days, the doctors and nurses were fighting over us. Guess they weren't used to being around patients who were so full of life and joy despite the circumstances. One of them even watched a few minutes of Bethel Church Live Sunday night with us online, remarking, "I wish I could stay all night."

While we know God didn't cause this, He's pretty darn good at turning every situation to good. Jesse said he was determined to make the devil see that sending me to the hospital was the worst decision he made since putting Jesus on the cross. :) HAHA!!!

GOING HOME
Every day since the bleeding stopped, the doctors had come in to say "Your baby still looks great. Blood pressure, heart rate...everything's good." By day five, they determined that I was completely stable. On Monday night we were home. I'm on bed rest for now, possibly until I give birth. At 32 weeks that's only 8 weeks to go! We're believing she'll be born naturally and without complications around January 11th. Luckily I'm not restricted to my bed. I can go to the grocery store occasionally with Jesse if I stay in the car or ride the motorized cart (yes!). I can't cook or clean but luckily I have tons of friends offering to cook meals and stay with me during the day so Jesse can be at school. As I'm typing this, a friend of mine is cleaning my whole house! I am loved! Plus my family is coming for Thanksgiving and Jesse's fam will be here for Christmas. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful, caring family who would do anything at the drop of a hat for me.

Another bonus is that, while one of my baby showers in Newport had to be cancelled (sad face), I instead get gifts delivered to my house! So far every day since I've been home there's been a new package arriving in the mail. It's like Christmas every day!

I'll be getting bi-weekly checkups to make sure everything is going well, but Jesse and I have so much faith that it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. Baby girl is healthy and strong and so is mamma. I feel totally normal, at peace and full of joy. No cramping or anything, just the occasional twinge when baby girl decides to use my bladder as a punching bag. :) She is head down now. Such a good girl. :)

Thank you all for praying for us through this time. We have definitely felt the impact of your prayers. Keep praying for continual peace, wisdom as we make new decisions about doctors, etc, and that baby girl will go to full term naturally without any further complications.

Hope you're all doing great! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Cows and more cows!

2011-10-08T19:35:00.000-07:00


Prather Ranch with Shasta

Ever since jumping on the "real food bandwagon" last summer, Jesse and I have been in search of good quality, local, organic, raw, grass fed, pastured foods. The last few weeks it's been all about the cows!

We've wanted to purchase a grass-fed cow (for it's meat) since last year and finally found some families to go in on it with us. The reason being, grass-fed meat can be pricey. Best to buy in bulk! We found a nearby farm called Prather Ranch that raises healthy grass-fed cows free from pesticides, hormones, anti-biotics and corn.

Happy cows= healthy nutritious meat! We ordered the cow from a local butcher who then aged and dried it and cut and packaged it up. We divided it between 3 other families, each walking away with a whole quarter of a cow! Don't worry, we also purchased a deep freeze.

Our deep-freeze with ~130lbs of grass-fed meat!

Now we're stocked up for a full year with ground, beef, roasts, filets, new yorks, brisket, etc...all coming out to be about $4 a pound! Come on! I even asked him to save me a few marrow bones from which I've made and froze beef stock. Homemade stock has been called "Jewish penecillin" for a reason. It's SO good for you! I make chicken stock too and freeze it in 1 cup portions in baggies. It's easy to grab and defrost when I need it for dinner.

Making homemade bone broth

What makes bone broth so nutritious?

“Science validates what our grandmothers knew. .. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons–stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.” From “Broth is Beautiful” by Sally Fallon Morell
“The French were the leaders in gelatin research, which continued up to the 1950s. Gelatin was found to be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice and cancer. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk. The American researcher Francis Pottenger pointed out that as gelatin is a hydrophilic colloid, which means that it attracts and holds liquids, it facilitates digestion by attracting digestive juices to food in the gut. Even the epicures recognized that broth-based soup did more than please the taste buds. “Soup is a healthy, light, nourishing food” said Brillant-Savarin, “good for all of humanity; it pleases the stomach, stimulates the appetite and prepares the digestion.” Also from “Broth is Beautiful” by Sally Fallon Morell
From Cheeseslave at the post on the Health Benefits of Bone Broth: “The gelatin in homemade bone broth helps the lining of the intestine. Many of us today have leaky gut, diverticulitis, Crohn’s and other intestinal problems. By helping to strengthen the gut walls, this also supports immunity. It also strengthens digestion which helps you absorb more nutrients.Gelatin also helps people digest milk and dairy products.”
Bone broth supplies amino acids that help the body detoxify.

Good enough reasons for me! I love returning to all the nourishing traditions of our past.

Marc's Farm in Cottonwood

Our second cow endeavor was to purchase raw milk at a good price. Few people are aware that clean, raw milk from grass-fed cows was actually used as a medicine in the early part of the last century. That's right! Milk straight from the udder, a sort of "stem cell" of foods, was used as medicine to treat, and frequently cure, some serious chronic diseases. Today, the pasturization (rapid heating) and homogenization (forcing the fat to be evenly dispersed so there's no "cream on top") processes that milk goes through strips milk of it's natural vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, vitamins and minerals. That's why the have to pump vitamin D back into it.

I've been buying raw milk from our local health food store, but it's $8 for a half gallon! Finally I found a local farm where I can get raw milk for only $7 for a whole gallon. Because the government does not what us buying raw milk, the only legal way to obtain it is to buy a share of the herd. So for $28 a year, Jesse and I are now proud owners of a share of a beautiful cow herd!

Some of our herd grazing in the beautiful sun.

We visited the farm today and talked to farmer Marc as he showed us around and introduced us to his cows. His milk is grade A and is constantly tested for pathogens. He has sold his milk to Land-o-lakes for years and none of the tests have ever come back positive for pathogens. His standards are impeccable. The cows all graze on grass all day and are supplemented with hay and barley in the winter. No GMO corn here! The herd is small, only 25-30 cows at a time, which makes it very manageable. Marc is able to keep an eye on the cows, making sure they're healthy and strong!

Me and baby girl, getting to know our cows

We walked away with 4 gallons of fresh, raw milk! Milked that morning. We're going to freeze 3 gallons at a time, that way we only have to make the 25min trip to the farm once a month. Man, I'm pumped! And with all the milk I've been drinking lately (baby girl needs her calcium!) I'm sure it'll go fast. Plus I'll be making kefir, ice cream, and perhaps even butter from this glorious milk. :)

Farmer Marc filling up our jars

Where the cows were milked this morning

Our milk!

So, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this little peak into our lives and my passion for whole food. Until next time...

Be filled with all His GOODNESS!!

Training up the worshipers

2011-09-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hello my wonderful community of family and friends! The reason I’m writing is because I wantedto talk to everyone about a new project that I have been working on. I am really excited about this andwanted to share it with you all for a few reasons. The first reason is just because I want to share the thingsin my life with my friends and family. Second, this project will cost money to do it right and so I am askingfor help in the area of finances. Thirdly, I would love your inputs if you have any, your encouragements,and your comments on how this project might affect you (more on thatlater). Please forgive the lengthof this but I felt it important to invite you in to my heart and passion forthis project as well as give you broad details.

So to dive right in, let me firstshare with you that I have an absolute passion to worship God, whether in myhouse alone or in church, it is one of my first loves.

I am creating training material targeted for people who leador want to lead worship in small group environments (groups between 5-40 thatdoesn’t involve a stage and large band). I first realized a need when God originally gave me the idea about fivemonths ago. I began to realizethat there aren’t many ways for someone leading small group worship to getlessons or instruction. There are,however, plenty of resources for just about every other aspect of the Christianlife. I realized so much of thegrowth is dependant on trial and error on their own in the groups theylead. While this can be veryeffective, it can also be a very slow way to learn depending on how oftensomeone actually gets to practice his or her skill.

I’ve always held small groupworship settings in such high value. It is a place where people can really connect with God on a moreintimate and personal level. Because of that level of connection, inner healing and spiritual growthseem to come more naturally than they do in larger corporate settings. It’s for this reason that I think it isso important for us to invest in and train-up our worship leaders in this smallgroup setting.

I have found that I learn the mostwhen I’m sitting in a worship meeting with someone more skilled or maybe justleads differently than I do. Theproblem is that in many communities the worship leader is always leading andrarely gets to sit in and just receive and learn from someone else. Even more rare is getting to talk tothe worship leader after the night and discuss how the leader thought the nightwent and unpack what God was doing. This idea almost seems too unspiritual but that is exactly what we do inlearning about big stage worship, preaching, and in learning to do miraclesamong others.

Thetraining material that I am creating is designed to equip these worship leaderswith experiential knowledge, taken directly from small group worship leadersthat already have a lot of experience and skill in this setting. The first part consists of creating anumber of short (around twenty minutes) online topical video in the form of aninterview or “fireside chat” where we talk about the practical things as wellas the spiritual aspects of leading in a small group environment. As we get into the more spiritualtopics we will do our best to stay away from methods and formulas and stick tothe truths and paradigms that God gives us for worship in the context of relationship.

The second part to the trainingmaterial is something I’m really excited about. We will be recording a worship night with high quality audioand video. The idea is to make itas much like a normal night of worship as possible. My heart for this project is to show that you don’t need tobe a “superstar” worship leader to see God move in greater levels in your meetings. After the worship night is over, we willinterview the worship leader and even some of the worshipers that arethere. My goal is to unpack thenight and have the worship leader share what she saw God doing and how shepartnered with Him in it. We willcover everything from why she started out with a certain song to maybe how shefostered spontaneous singing that broke open a new level of the worship thatnight. In talking to theworshipers themselves we will ask things like what they felt God was doing thatnight, what about the night created more freedom, and maybe, if anything, whatseemed to disconnect or distract them from the worship.

So that is the vision for theproject. This set of recordingswill be like a pilot episode to see how people take in the lessons. If it looks like the project is asuccess and people are learning and growing because of the videos then the doorwill be open for more panel discussions and more recorded worship nights indifferent cities. This first pilotwill be available to people online for free, though I will be praying about apossible access charge in the future.

Asit stands now, we are going to film most of the project in the beginning of November. Ihave three cameramen, an editor, asound engineer with a studio, and bunch people that will be taking part in thepanel and worship. Because theproject will be free to world I am raising money to pay for it. The estimated cost is about $3500. If a large organization were to do thisit would cost at least five times that amount, but because of the smaller scaleand the relationships I am in we can do it for less without sacrificing quality. This resource is meant to be a blessing to literally the world. If you see the value in what I’m doingand you want to help make it a reality you can give to it in a couple of ways:

1. Send money to me directly (check, money order,etc.)

“Jesse Skinner” (make payable to me)

1023 Burton Dr. Apt. A

Redding CA, 96003

(Please note somewhere that the money isfor the Worship Project)

2. You can give it to me in person (cash or check)

3. You can give via Pay Pal HERE. Credit cards and debit cards areaccepted through Pay Pal.

*I don’t have a non-profit ministry set up so donations willnot be tax deductable.

**If you would like to see a cost breakdown or want to know more about the project feel free tosend me a request via email.

The end of the summer

2011-08-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

So by now we all know that Jessica and I aren't the most consistent bloggers...but we are trying. This entry, to keep it manageable, will have just a few topics and then we will try to do more updating on the next post.

Topics:
1. Going to England
2. Jessica's pregnancy
3. Summer life

in Scottland...of course!

So, most of you should have known that we went to England over the summer for 3 weeks. It all started when we were invited by a great couple, Chad and Julia Dedmon, to help out with a conference they were speaking at in Chiswick, which is in the London area if I understand it right. We had a great time ministering to people and seeing hearts changed and blessed. We also saw God heal many many people as well as a group of kids, many of whom were not Christians, that we ran into on the street. These teenage kids were so great, after one kid's eyes were healed from being unable to see without his glasses the rest all wanted to know what God would heal. One at a time almost all of 8 kids had something healed by God; shoulder tightness, one ear that was deaf opened up, memory loss, one kid got healed of a stutter instantly, knees healed, etc...and after they ran out of things to be healed of, all but one of the kids made a decision to give their life to Jesus (they were all getting healed, afterwards they wanted to meet the Healer, Jesus! Haahahah!)

Jess and Jenn Hill hiking a on hill called Lion's Seat in Edinburgh

After Chiswick, we took the train to Edinburgh, Scottland to stay with Jennifer Hill, a friend from school who lives there. We had a great time relaxing and seeing the castle and city there. After 3 days there we went back to England to a town called Harrogate where we got to help out at a great church with their conference. We had a busy but amazing time praying and prophesying over many many people. We saw God transform the hearts of so many great people through our prayers and words as we followed the Holy Spirit. We stayed with a fabulous family that let us stay with them while there, Steve and Julie Barry. I feel like we made another lifelong friendship and connection. We actually had a house to stay in during the whole trip, we didn't stay in a hotel once (except one night because we celebrated our three year anniversary).

After Harrogate we went to a small town called Bedford and stayed with another school friend, Catherine Pedley. It was such a joy to be around her family and eat breakfast and dinner with such a hospitable family. We also got to pray for a family they are friends with and saw their daughter's ears open up and no longer need hearing aids as well as seeing God heal her mother's migraines (which she had daily and caused numbness in the right side of her body) we heard later that she hadn't had another since, yeah Jesus got what He paid for! So much fun traveling with friends and seeing God move in supernatural ways, NATURALLY!

Us with sister, Sarah!

Worshiping in a very old church

Finally, we ended our last 5 days in London staying with our good friends from school Dave and Katrina Stevenson. While there I got to fulfill a longtime dream of mine of playing worship with a guitar in a 100+ year old church. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done, God just made it happen, He really really likes me. One more really neat thing was we got to have coffee with my sister Sarah who was visiting London, she currently lives in Paris, France. Overall, our trip was the most fun we have ever had traveling. Mixing ministry, friends and traveling is definitely how we want to travel from now on if possible. We'll be back soon!!!

In London walking around a large park pond

Now for for what you really want to hear about: Jessica's pregnancy is going so phenomenally well! She will be 22 weeks this monday (August 29th) and growing bigger every week. It's so much fun to see her beautiful belly get bigger and bigger. We found out this past week that we are the proud parents of a GIRL!!! Our little girl moves all the time, never stays still. It's been so much fun feeling this little baby in Jess' stomach, we just get such a kick out it. Oh and Jess hasn't gotten sick yet during the pregnancy which is such a great way to be pregnant!

Finally, summer life in Redding has been slow at first but has been picking up a lot lately. Jess started a temporary job through a temp-agency. She works all day and comes home a bit tired but thankfully only has a week left. She won't be working during school. I actually also started a new job. My first since I left the Navy last March. I work at a great company called Ncomputing (you can google it if you want) doing tech support. It's part time in the morning so I can still go to school and not miss out on social activities. It pays quite well considering it's part time and they are super flexible for my missions and ministry trips. All-in-all, the perfect job, such a blessing to be able to supplement our savings a little so we don't go through it too fast.

21 weeks prego!

We are gearing up for our second year at Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry. Jessica will be doing school up to the pregnancy (around January 2nd!) and then returning to school with our little girl when she feels ready. So much coming up in the next few months I wish I could just share it all now, but I will wait until the next post.

We love you all and would love to hear how you ALL are doing, feel free to email either of us (even just to say hi).

Lot's of Love

Jesse and Jessica
jessejskinner@gmail.com
jessicaleighskinner@gmail.com

My first Father's day...

2011-06-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

So hello all you amazing people that we know! If you haven't heard yet, you might be able to deduct from the title above that Jessica and I are parents now! We found out a few weeks ago that Jessica is pregnant and couldn't be happier. Since this is me, Jesse talking I will let her share more of her experience some other time (or you can email her to get the direct scoop). She has been doing wonderful, I don't think I have seen a new mother eat more healthy than she has been doing. She has been super healthy without any morning sickness or nausea, she get's a little tired in the middle of the day but that is it, woohoo!!! It was a little surreal waking up this past Sunday and realizing that it was Father's Day, and that I am now a father. The due date of Little Baby Skinner is in January. I'll save the rest of the story for Jess to tell.

Whew...It's been awhile since we last updated. We finished our first year at the ministry school we were attending and plan on doing another year. Jess is hoping they will let her attend as long as she is able, whether she graduates or not that is yet to be determined. Jess isn't that concerned with graduating, but she does want to be a part of the class as much as she can. We have the summer off and plan on doing some traveling. We leave for England on June 29th. We will be ministering at a church in Chiswick (near London) with an amazing couple, Chad and Julia Dedmon for a few days then we'll head north to Harrogate in Yorkshire where we will be helping out an amazing couple, Tim and Sue Eldridge with a conference their church is putting on. Mixed in there somewhere we will be hanging out with some friends from school who live in England (Catherine Pedley and Dave and Katrina Stevenson and maybe others). I had a dream last October that we would be invited by the Dedmon's to London to minister with them, then just a few months ago, Chad and Julia asked us to go - it didn't take much thought to see that God was setting us up for something extraordinary. This trip will nothing short of phenomenal, we are going to call the trip, Encountering Jesus Tour. We are getting our expectations higher and higher ever day.

One last thing to note, lately I have been getting really excited about seeing my dreams (the kind you plan to do in the future) fulfilled. I wrote out a list of 75 dreams that I want to see fulfilled. I decided that this can't be a list of "pipe-dreams" that never come to pass so I chose one of the dreams and started working to achieve it. My first dream I chose was to take Jessica flying in a helicopter. The last time I flew was for the Navy, almost four years ago. I honestly didn't think I would ever fly again, though I knew I wanted to some day. Well, after 10 hours of getting training and getting checked-out in a little civilian Robinson R-22 Helicopter, I took Jessica up for an hour long tour of Redding and surrounding areas. We had a blast and even had the doors removed for our flight. If you haven't fulfilled a dream of yours lately, it might be because you think you're too busy, or maybe you just can't think of any dreams that you have. I encourage you to take time to start dreaming and begin a dream sheet, make a list of your dreams and start working on getting one accomplished. The bible says that "hope deferred makes the heart grow sick, but a desire (dream) fulfilled is a TREE OF LIFE." When you have a dream fulfilled in your life you literally are injected with liquid hope, and hope is like "Rocket Fuel" for your life. Just watch what happens as you begin to dream...

Love you all

Jesse

Back from Guatemala

2011-04-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Jessica being mobbed by 8th Grade girls

We came for the one but stayed for the hundreds!

Well, we are back and life hasn't been the same. Since we've been back, our hearts and minds have been radically different. Jessica and I are encountering God in deeper ways with more freedom and joy and intimacy.

Our trip was amazing to say the least. We were a team of 21 students and 2 leaders. Our trip was pretty much non-stop, always in the van going to minister somewhere. We were asked to come to Guatemala by a church denomination called Verbo. They saw what God was doing in Ecuador through our leader, Chris Gore, and asked him to come and teach and minister at their churches in Guatemala. So our job was to teach and impart to the Verbo churches what we have learned about the Kingdom of Heaven.

I will go over some highlights because this update might get a little too long to tell of all the things we did.

- We ministered at about 6 different churches. Every church we went to and ministered at God moved in the miraculous. Many of the people at the meetings had fresh and intimate encounters with God. Sometimes they would fall down, sometimes they would cry or laugh, and sometimes they would fall and cry and laugh all at the same time! I asked a couple of the people that this happened to what was going on and they just said that God is so good and they were so in love with Him. Often we encounter God is very cerebral ways and that is great, but often we can encounter Him in such a way that it offends our very minds. We ask, "What is going on!?" I have found that it is through those "crazy" encounters that we sometimes have that God does the most open heart surgery and gives us the greatest breakthrough.

-In one meeting of at least 50 people, at least 25 people had pain or sickness. We asked for those seated around the sick or injured to lay hands on their friends and pray a quick simple prayer, "Be healed in the name of Jesus." (in Spanish). Every one of the people that were standing for healing prayer were healed that night. Best of all, the congregation got be the hands that God used that night, it wasn't US! They got the revelation that God loves them enough to partner with them to see the Gospel preached in miracles (JUST LIKE JESUS DID!).

-Jessica got to "stand up" on stage and give her testimony at one of the churches we went to. I say "stand up," because she was so under the influence of the Holy Spirit or "drunk" as the book of Acts would say, that she couldn't stand and needed a chair to finish her encouraging word over the people. That night many people were touched by God and many tears turned into laughter as dozens of Guatemalans got the revelation that they were the Joy of their Father's heart. Wouldn't that make you happy?! Jessica did amazing, I was so proud of her for being such a willing vessel for Papa's love.
- We ministered at 2 PUBLIC high schools (come on!) and I got to speak at one of them. Kids had radical encounters with Papa's love!

- We also got to spend 2 hours praying for the sick in a hospital. Too many healings to count. My favorite testimony was of a woman with paralyzed legs started wiggling her toes after prayer. The nurses saw it and shocked said, "Come with me." They lead our team members to the nurses station where a nurse with a slipped disc was in severe pain, waiting for surgery. They prayed and the pain completely left! One woman who was healed followed the team around the rest of the time praying for other sick patients. Death fleed every room we walked into!

-We got to go to Antiqua, a quaint town that attracts many tourist and locals needing a get-away. Although it was our day off, our team still got to see many people get healed and touched by the love of God. A few people even gave their lives to Jesus that day! This is what happens when you are a son or a daughter of God. This is normal Christianity; we were just walking our way through the shops and amazing cafes enjoying our son-ship.

-Some of the miracles we saw:
Teenager with retina problems got completely healed. Many people with partial or complete deafness were healed or had major breakthrough. Migraines healed. Lot's of painful necks were healed and sore or painful throats and necks were healed. Man with injured ankle got healed. One seven year old boy who Jess got to pray for have never run normally as his feet were crippled and he had to wear a leg brace. He got completely healed, his mom was weeping and the boy was RUNNING everywhere for the rest of the night! There were countless more healings and many many people were touched by the love of Jesus throughout our trip. A man, who didn't have a leg below his knee when home after being prayed for. He came back the next day and said that his leg had grown out a small amount!

- We also got to minister at 2 orphanages and love on the kiddos.
Here is an amazing testimony from Jessica:
At one of the orphanages we visited, I spotted a teenage girl quietly sitting by herself and decided to strike up a conversation. My Spanish only got me so far, so I grabbed our translator to sit and chat with us. Soon Brenda, who is sixteen, began to open up about her reason for being at the orphanage (she gave this information without us asking). It turns out she had just gotten there two days before and came straight from the hospital where her parents had forced her to abort her twin babies. Her parents did not want her back so she was sent there. My heart broke. She said, "Everyone is telling me to forget about it, but it's hard." Filled with compassion I asked if I could pray with her in private. She said she believed in Jesus and agreed. With the help of the translator I got to lead her through healing prayer. She did not want to forgive her parents but after explaining how forgiveness doesn't have to be felt, but that it is powerful in setting us free from anger and bitterness, she agreed to try. I had her repeat after me and she forgave them, even having the courage to say, "They don't owe me and apology." Now that is powerful forgiveness! When we were finished she let out a huge sigh and a smile came on her face for the first time. A weight had been lifted and her entire countenance looked different. I prayed with her more and got to talk with her about her babies, what their names would have been if they were boys or girls. I blessed her womb to bear the twins she desires when the time is right, and she thanked us profusely stating, "I never thought I would have friends like you." I told her if I came to Guatemala for her alone the trip would have been worth it. I left her with a letter of encouragement to keep forgiving and to always remember that God is with her every step of the way. Come on God!

- We also got to help out a church with an outreach to the city at a popular park/marketplace. We were there for a whopping 5 hours in the hot sun. We had a ton of fun though talking to people and blessing them. We did prophetic art, balloons and painted on the hands of the kids. We prayed and prophesied over dozens of people between our whole team of 13 that were there. I got to introduce a few young men to their Savior and see their countenance change before my eyes. So much joy was released that day and so many destinies were spoken over. Jessica got to prophesy over a group of teenage girls that were passing through on their way to school. All the girls were glued to the life giving words of Jesus through Jessica. One of the girls gave her life to Jesus right then, who knows when the rest of the girls will, but they ALL had their eyes open to how much God loves them!

Our goal of this trip was two-fold: To equip the Verbo churches with their identity as sons and daughters and all that goes with living from the full inheritance that is ours through Jesus. Second, was to bring God encounters to everyone we met. We were very excited when people gave their lives to Jesus but were also very excited to give people a love encounter with their Lover and Savior and if they wanted a relationship with Him right then, well then that is wonderful, but our only agenda was to love them right where their hearts were at.

So there were many more laughs and miracles and salvations but I can't remember them all. We want to thank those of you who prayed for us while we were gone and also a big thank you to those that sowed into us financially too, I pray you all get blessed in return for everything your poured out onto us! We are so thankful for a community of friends and family like you all. If after reading about all the amazing things God has done makes you excited and hungry for God to work in and through your life the same way or MORE, then set your heart on God and let Him know that you want to experience more of Him in EVERY WAY! I have learned to put a demand on heaven and I am not satisfied until I have all that Jesus paid for on the cross.

Abundant blessings and favor to you all!

Jesse and Jessica

2011-03-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

So we are finally ready to go to Guatemala. First let Jess and Me personally thank each of you for prayers and your financial help with getting us to this day! We could not have done it without you, and frankly we don't want to do it without you all surrounding us in love and support. Thank you!!!

As most of you probably know by now, Jess and I will be going to Guatemala this Friday the 11th. We are part of a group of 24 students traveling with Bethel Church through our school, The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. We could have chosen any one of over 40 different trips around the world. We chose this trip in particular partly because of the men leading the trip. The leaders, Chris Gore and Chuck Perry, are two well known men of faith at our church and have a history of leading mission trips filled with powerful salvations and healings. Our mission will be to bring the Kingdom of Heaven wherever we go.

We will be going to 2 to 3 hospitals with the goal of seeing the buildings emptied out by the power of God's powerful healing love! In the past they have seen whole hospital wards cleared out, we are believing to see the whole building saved, healed and delivered! Our team will also be doing meetings at many of the local churches in different cities. We were first invited to Guatemala by a few of the main church denominational leaders. They saw what Chris Gore was teaching in Ecuador and wanted it in their churches. Our primary goal will be to equip the local churches in miracles and the revelation of the power of the Holy Spirit to heal, save and deliver in their churches and CITIES! We will be assisted by a local ministry school similar to our own. These young adult students will be our translators and guides in the city. Our aim is to also equip these local students with everything that we have been given. We aren't going to these churches to "WoW" them, but to impart everything we have so they can accelerate past us (this is the heart of a father, to see his kids out-run him). We will also have time to do ministry in the market-place in the cities. I am looking forward to preaching on the streets with the local ministry students, showing them how easy it is to introduce people to the Healer, Jesus!

We leave this Friday, the 11th and return the 21st. If you are able, find a couple days you can pray for us while we are gone (or pray for us EVERY DAY we are gone!). We know there is so much power in prayer and declarations.

Jess and I are really believing we will see many many salvations and some phenomenal miracles. Specifically I want to see every blind and deaf person I pray for healed and I want to see arms and legs grow out, whole, just like God wants them!

Things to be praying for:

-Unity in our marriage throughout the trip. Unity of the team.

-Lots and lots of JOY for our whole team! Laughter everywhere we go!

-Thousands of SALVATIONS and hearts returning to Jesus! Resurrection power for creative miracles (arms growing out, muscles and bones regenerated instantly…)

-Peace and rest while we do ministry; that we would not be tired and worn out but that we would operate from heaven everyday. Waking up refreshed daily! Good dreams.

-Complete protection on all fronts from anything not of God trying to ruin His plans.

-Favor of the King wherever we go: Traveling, in cities, on planes, in hotels…

**Anything else that you can think or that God shows you.

Bless you all and thank you for being in our lives.

God is Like a Big Bowl of Vanilla Ice Cream

2011-01-30T14:35:00.001-08:00

I think every husband should buy their wife an ice cream maker for her birthday. Homemade ice cream just makes for a good marriage.
I am currently churning my first batch of creamy vanilla goodness and Jesse and I sit like kids on the drive to Disneyland. And it made me think, "Man God, you're just like vanilla ice cream (obviously better, but let's not be religious)."

My time here at Bethel has been filled with many sweet times in God's presence. Lately I've been rocked by the revelation that there are no "shoulds" or "shouldn'ts" in God's Kingdom. "Well I guess I should raise my hands in worship," "I suppose I should read the Word," "I should be feeling more connected to Him right now," "I should go on that treasure hunt. I'm a leader and I should act like one." While taking risks in God is good thing, feeling like I should only creates bondage. Often I've found myself thinking that I should stir my spirit up and "press into" God. But I've realized that "pressing in" is often just Christianese for striving. As our friend Luke put it, "The only pressing in I want to do looks like kids crowding around Jesus and pressing into His robes for a hug."

This revelation has hit me so hard that I don't think I will ever worship or dream the same again. I don't want to strive in my marriage to God. I just want to enjoy Him. And I don't need my relationship to look like anyone else's. If it does, maybe I'm faking it. I've totally questioned all the things I do in my relationship with God and wondered why I do them. Usually it's because other people have told me to do them so I think I should. But I want my relationship with God to be as free as a little kid enjoying ice cream. Some eat fast and furious and get it all over their faces, some lick slowly, liking their hands to stay clean, some like cones, others cups, some devour the whole thing in a single setting while others save some for later. Kids don't need to be taught how to eat ice cream. Maybe we don't need to be taught how to enjoy God?

Getting rid of the "I should" voice has made my relationship with God taste so much better. I've found myself in the sweet spot, that place in God like vanilla ice cream that makes me so happy and so satisfied not matter what I'm doing. I could be standing still in worship, jumping, singing, not singing, looking around the room, but yet I feel my entire being worshiping, just enjoying His creamy goodness. Ahhh, perfectly satisfied; so full and at rest and excited at the same time.
Every bite of ice cream, as it gushes around my tastes buds, melting into heavenly bliss, makes me feel satisfied, yet I can't keep my spoon from dipping back in the bowl for more, until I find myself licking the bowl just to get every bit I can!

I would eat God if I could.

So while many of are craving ice cream right now, imagine God being that satisfying, that tongue tickling this very moment. You don't have to press in or position yourself a different way or read 20 psalms until you encounter Him. He is right next to you, loving you, waiting to smoosh into with a big gooey hug.

So that's my revelation for the day. God is like ice cream. I don't have to jump up and down three times or pray in tongues for 30 minutes to get my ice cream to taste good. It's just good.

So encounter God like you do a big bowl of ice cream today. It really makes for a good marriage.

16 Brazilians Raised from the Dead after 3 days!

2011-01-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

We have a core value: God is good!

Jessica and I heard this testimony (report) first hand from the woman that sent the encouraging email to the American Medical Team in Brazil. This really happened. We send this report out because we want people to know that God is powerful and real today! We hope to see people raised from the dead on our Guatemala trip...


These are the 5 bodies that were raised from the dead.

January.21.11

A nurse is leading a mission team of doctors and nurses to Brazil. They left on Jan 13, 2011. They are still there until the 28th. On the 12th there had been massive flooding in Brazil and over 600 people died. They were not going for this reason but the timing of their trip just happened to coincide.
Only one on the team had ever experienced the power of the Holy Spirit or miracles for that matter!! She had asked her friends to pray, and they did.
Her friend (the woman we know) had sent her a small e-mail on the 13th with a small word, and she had mentioned how blessed the team was by it. So the next night, the friend sent her another e-mail, and she told her that when she read the e-mail to her team in chapel on Saturday the 15th in the morning, one by one the team members fell under the power of God. They lay there, unable to move for over an hour while someone reread the e-mail over them, over and over and over.
She said the e-mail had released so much faith to them that just at the end of the chapel time, when the Holy Spirit told them to "Go to the morgue, NOW!" they immediately obeyed. What happened in the morgue and on the street near the morgue is almost incomprehensible and hard to imagine but she talked to her friend on Sunday morning and got the incredible, play-by-play details.
After chapel on Saturday morning when they fell under the power, the team went out into the streets and the morgue and raised 16 people who had died in the floods 3 days earlier from the dead.
Attached is the local newspaper article (translated below) from the area in Brazil where this happened. The article was published Sunday, 1/16/11.
The testimony is below from the pictures attached and the newspaper article printed on Sunday morning! Read on.

Below is the English translation of the local newspaper article with the documented interviews of two of the people that had been risen from the dead:

Caleme, Teresopolis
16 Dead Bodies Confirmed Resurrected from the Dead
Sunday, January 16, 2011
CALEME, TERESOPOLIS, Brazil - People of the barrio of Caleme have witnessed Saturday 5 dead bodies raised from the dead in the street. Another 10 bodies from the morgue have been raised to life. One woman who drowned and was dead was also raised back to life. The people in Caleme reported that 5 American men went near the 5 bodies and yelled, "Rise and live in the name of Jesus." The dead bodies started to shake and stood up and walked and are alive. At the nearby morgue, there were 10 dead bodies in the hallway. People said that 5 foreign women went near the bodies and said, "Rise and live in the name of Jesus." The dead bodies shook and stood up shaking and walking and were alive. People were screaming, yelling. Riot at the barrio of Caleme. These 5 dead bodies in the street of Caleme have been dead since Wednesday January 12. The 10 dead bodies in the morgue have been left in the hallway since Wednesday. People have talked to the dead risen. They were still weak but were able to talk and they said, "I was in a dark place many people crying, shouting. Was I asleep? Now I am alive!" "I know I was dead. I was in a dark, ugly place. I do not know what happened, but I am back to life. God is alive.” The families of these dead are celebrating and happy. There has been hope in Caleme since Saturday.

Here are the details that my friend gave me over the phone about the pictures attached to the article.
The link below is to a picture (in color) of the five bodies that died in the floods on Jan. 12, 2011. It was taken on the day that they died. This picture was taken 3 days before they were raised back to life on January 15, 2011. My friend told me those bodies were lined up along the side of the road and left there for three days until when on Jan. 15, 5 men from their medical mission team, came upon them and not knowing exactly how to raise the dead, the team decided to just stand there and worship the Lord over the bodies (this is what my friend told me but the news article says differently). As they worshiped, the bodies began to shake and tremble and began to sit up and stand. Instantly, the people all around began to shouted and screamed, and within in a few seconds there was chaos and a mob of people. This picture matches exactly to the top picture you see in the newspaper article attached.
This link below will take you to that picture but you have to scroll down a bit to see it. It's in the right hand column. It is the same picture used in the newspaper article that was written about that day. The pictures are both date stamped. Incredible.
http://www.aolnews.com/tag/teresopolis/photo/
(This is the link to the photo at the beginning of the post)

The second (or bottom) picture in the newspaper article appears to be the leftover pile of dirty blankets that were used to cover the 10 dead people in the morgue who were waiting to be buried but then raised from the dead instead. These bodies all had been dead for three days as well, due to drowning in the floods. The other five members of the medical missions team had entered the morgue under the Holy Spirit’s leading. He had given them the number 16 but they were not sure what that meant.
They stood to the back of the room, amongst the family members who were grieving and mourning their losses and the 5 ladies from the mission team linked hands. As they did, they began to shake under the power of God. They felt the Holy Spirit give them the words to say and all together they shouted it: "RISE UP AND LIVE IN THE NAME OF JESUS." The leader told me that their voices were not their own and that "somewhere in our bellies" came a thundering voice in one accord, as if they had shouted through a megaphone.

They waited and within five seconds, one body began to shake as if "someone had been stomping on them" and then one by one all the bodies were shaking. Each body then began to slowly sit up, and then stand. The grieving family members began to shout and scream wildly and in an instant there was chaos in the room. The interpreter quickly ushered the team out of the building for their safety. They met up with the other team members that had been walking the street and had just raised the other 5 to life. That team had also come across a dead body that had been more of a recent death and decided to try CPR. Just as they were going to do CPR, the Holy Spirit told the team leader, "Do not do CPR! Command the body to rise and live." So they did and that body began to shake and sit up. That person was also raised from the dead.

The team had raised up a total of 16 people from the dead on January 15, 2011. The same number that the Holy Spirit had given to them earlier that day. 10 + 5 +1 = 16

To read more testimonies of God's powerful love, here's the link for this miracle and many more:
Bethel Testimonies

WE DID IT!

2011-01-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

Extravagant Giving
Hey all you amazing people out there!
So what to write about? So much good stuff going on in Jessica's and my life. For starters, we received at total of $2000 from friends and family who wanted to sow into our trip to Guatemala in March. This meant so much to us! Jessica and I really wanted to feel "sent" by our friends and family as we went to Guatemala in March. We would have been excited and blessed if a few people gave us $20, showing us they believe in what we are doing, but instead we got $2000 in as little as 7 days of sending out a brief letter explaining our trip and needs. We were overwhelmed to say the least! A few of you sent in money anonymously and so we need to thank you for that too! Our trip is completely paid off, what a relief and blessing.

Guatemala!
For some of you that don't know the details of our trip here is a little more information: We are going to Guatemala in March for about 9 days. Times and places are still being worked out but we are doing a lot of "work" while there. We will be going to two different hospitals to heal the sick and clear out whole floors. I have seen dozens of people get healed while at a hospital in Brazil two years ago and we are expecting many more miracles than that! We will be speaking and teaching at a bunch of different churches. On one Sunday morning the team will break into groups of three and visit different churches so we are promised to have lot's of opportunities to lead services and meetings. We will also be doing plenty of market and street evangelism and healing. One of the main things the churches there have told us they wanted is to be equipped to do miracles and encounter God themselves. Every opportunity we get we will have the locals doing all the praying and prophesying. I just heard a testimony FIRST HAND of some people in Brazil recently that prayed for some people to be raised from being dead (they were dead for three days) and 16 people got up and lived!!!! I will share more in my next update (complete with the local news article). Needless to say our faith level to see MORE amazing things has increased!

Jessica and I are doing great. I will harass Jess to send out a personal blog so you can hear from her directly. I (Jesse) have been doing great! For Christmas I received a voucher for a guided fishing trip down the Sacramento River with a friend. We went a couple weeks ago and had such a wild time! You can see one of the fish I caught, we hooked up on at least 20 fish between the two of us I caught at least 6 or 7. We weren't able to keep any because of the Fly Shop's rules for guided trips. I have been fishing a lot lately, at least once a week. It is such a great way to have a little adventure out here. I am not great at catching fish on my own yet but I will be!

Thanks for all your love and encouragement!

Jesse

Blindness bows to the name of Jesus!

2010-12-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick testimony:
Kris, Cassi and myself all went to the Emergency room in hopes of sharing God's love with whoever we meet. I sat next to these two ladies, one was almost completely blind (100% blind in one eye, and some shadows in the other) and the other was her caretaker. They both said they knew and loved Jesus. We sat and talked, I mostly listened to them talk about their families and in part, their troubles. The woman who was blind, was in the Emergency room waiting area and was trying to get a pain-relieving shot for her migraine headache that she had. The woman's caretaker mentioned that she had bad neck-pain (for the past year) and shoulder pain. I suggested Betty, the blind woman, pray for Patti, her caretaker. After a couple short prayers Patti was completely healed from her neck and shoulder pain/injuries!! Whoa Yes Jesus! THEN...I suggested to Patti that as Betty's caretaker, she should pray for the healing of her blindness. She was a little hesitant having never seen God heal someone in person but agreed this was a good idea. I told her to not use any fancy prayers (it's not the right words we use but our faith in Who is inside us) but to user her authority as a daughter of God and command the blindness to heal. "Blindness go, vision come," was what she said. After speaking this over Betty a couple times she began to see more light through her eyes than before so Patti continued! Five minutes later, not changing her "prayer", Betty said she could now make out the outline of some larger letters on a magazine cover!!!! I was beside myself, I kept asking her, "Are you sure you couldn't do this before?" She kept telling us that there was no way she could do this before! Our team had to leave, so I encouraged the ladies to continue to command the blindness to go as they were sitting there. Oh, and I asked Betty about her migraine she had, she said sometime during our prayers all the pain left...she had forgotten she had it! Praise Jesus for His powerful love!

This was the first person I have ever seen who was healed of blindness in person...though not the last! I think what I like the most is that I didn't have to pray for either of them at all. I love empowering others and showing them how powerful they are when they realize that Jesus lives inside of them.

As a side note, about two weeks ago a man, who was blind, was baptized at Bethel Church, where we are going to school. Well...when he went into the baptism tank he was blind but when he came out of the tank..........HE BEGAN TO SEE! By the end of the service his vision was near perfect!

Get in the river!

2010-11-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

So hello y'all out there in blog outer-space! I hope and pray this finds you all well and filled with love. If I'm not filled with love all day every day then I'm not living to the potential of the day and who I am created to be!

By now you've seen the photos on the page and realize that I AM A FLY FISHERMAN! Yup, you got it, I have started fly fishing. Okay so I have only gone three times but I really like it. A wise man (Bill Johnson) once said that the key to living a victorious life in God is to "stay in the river." Did you know that evil spirits are always looking for "dry places" to rest and live. Check out Luke 11:24 talking about after a person gets clean of an afflicting or lying or other evil spirit, "When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it goes through dry places looking for a place to rest." (KJV) Wild huh? I think it was John Wesley's assistant that said the goal of the Christian life is to spend his/her life getting as filled up (drenched) with the Holy Spirit as possible! Often, in the bible, the Holy Spirit is depicted as a river, so I figured if I am hanging out in the river (pictured), I am doing pretty well for myself.

I got started fly fishing when my friend Shane, from Australia, told me he would teach me whenever I wanted to go. I just happened to have a fly fishing rod and reel in the garage. Now, I don't know where the rod came from, only that it appeared in my garage about 4 years ago and no one seems to claim it was theirs. I even tried to sell it at various garage sales but no one would buy it. Thanks God!

I borrowed my friend's waders and boots and was soon fishing in the river (pictured). I have yet to catch a fish, but Shane usually catches at least one fish each trip so I know it's possible. Fly fishing is harder than using a hook and worm like the last time I went fishing, but maybe that's why I like it so much. Standing in a beautiful river like the Sacramento or Trinity River is pure bliss. There is such peace and tranquility that it overwhelms you and you find yourself with a big smile on your face. The fall leaves changing color and morning fog climbing the hill in front of you as you listen to the water move around you is such an experience. Papa God has been talking to me about me needing to find more adventure in my life. I believe He led me to the river and smiles over me as I stand in the water, far away from dry places.

Today is going to be a great day! I believe it!

2010-10-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Does it FEEL like it will be a good day? or Do I BELIEVE it will be a good day?

That is how I woke up the other day. I grabbed hold of a good principle yesterday and I have been really blessed so I will share it with you all. If you are follower of Jesus, this will make more sense but if you are not it will still make an impact in your daily life if you let the principle work in you.

So, the situation was that awoke on a normal day before school and started my day as I always do. I didn't wake up feeling especially empowered or excited about the day. The day before I felt much more energized and excited about the day, but this time it wasn't the same. I didn't feel like it was going to be an amazing day filled with joy and laughter and good things encountering me and good people loving on me and God filling me with His affections. It just felt like an average, maybe even a below average morning. I ended up reading part of a book by Smith Wigglesworth (preacher in the late 1800's) and getting hold of the revelation that we are not supposed to live out of feelings alone. I was then reminded that if we lived our lives by our feelings we would be called "feelers", instead we are called "believers"! I immediately thought about how I was feeling that morning and realized that I needed to fix my mind on what I knew to be true based on what God says in the Bible. I know that God has told me that He is always with me, and He always wants to bless me, to give me joy and love every day! Never is there a day that is not designed to make me a happy son, filled with His love and acceptance. WoW!!! If that is the case, is there ever a place to have a bad day? Even if things appear to go bad, God promises to make great and wonderful things out of the crappy things that happen to and around us, even if WE are the one's that cause it! After that, I decided to change the way I thought about that coming day. I went and worshiped God and gave Him thanks for the promises that I believed in (even though I wasn't feeling them). In less than 10 minutes I was laughing and rejoicing that I was going to have an amazing day!!!!!

So with that being said, here is a quick video that Jessica and I made that morning! Be filled with joy and hopeful expectation in the day! (tomorrow is looking better by the second!)

Money Money MONEY!

2010-10-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

So Jess and I would like to talk about money. Let's just get to the point. Like many of you, I have often been the recipient of letters asking for money. We, the proverbial "we", like to tip-toe around talking about money. What I am attempting to do here is to crumple up all tension and uneasiness associated with this topic and toss it in the trash. Hopefully I'll be bringing to light some unique and rather freeing paradigms in the process.

We have dreams and these dreams are not cheap. Our dreams are getting bigger every day, dreams from God. Dreams that require money and resources and people. Jess and I have realized that God is really big and that He has a ton of resources available to us. For example: Jess and I stayed in a 1.5 million dollar house 4 blocks from the beach in La Jolla, CA for the first year and a half of our marriage for $1500 a month (normally rent would be $3800)! We didn't even need to ask for it, God knew how to love us and had my friend offer it to us! We have learned to have zero fear of lack and even more that God provides for ALL our needs and even provides for our wants (that's a good word)! But there is something I have learned along the way, we can't do life alone. Even though we feel it's good not to burden our friends with a need, God has made it so that we are dependent on each other in different ways so that we don't become isolated and do our own thing apart from family and community. We need each other, and although it may feel good doing it all on our own, that is not how to build a close family.

I'm going to be straight with you on this subject, Jessica and I will receive everything we need to complete and fulfill our dreams. We will because we know our God loves us and wants to give the world to us. Our faith in His goodness unlocks all of heavens finances. So why are we asking for money? We are asking, but it is also an offer to partner with us. What we want to get very clear to all of our family and friends is that we will accomplish all of our dreams. Whether you give financially or not, God will provide a way for us to get the finances we need. Do not feel obligated or fear that we will fail if you don't do your part. If you are thinking about partnering with us financially, it needs to be from a place of complete freedom. If you are feeling guilty and that you "need" or "should" give, then we would ask for you to not give and be free in doing so. We would rather have support from people that are excited about what God will do with their gift in our lives. If you aren't totally excited about blessing us with your gift then save it for another time or another purpose in the future. Let me say again, we will not fail in what we are called to do. I hope that takes any burden off of you in reading this letter. Our love for each of you has nothing to do with whether you help financially or not. Jess and I are free enough in ourselves that we don't base our friendships off of who can give us the most money or any at all. We only write this letter so that you know how to give and partner with us.

We want to thank those of you that have already given so generously to us. We are also thankful for those of you who have helped us out in other ways with other resources. We cannot fulfill all the mighty and powerful dreams that God has given us without your help, whether it's money, time, resources, or just encouragement and love. All these are necessary to for us to succeed. I know you will all reap what your have sown into our lives and MORE!

We of course need more than just money, but I wanted to cover this topic thoroughly as it can be a tough one to talk about at times. We thank you, and covet your prayers and love that you so freely give us and shower us with.

How to give:

Right now our need is for a 9 day trip to Guatemala, spring next year (I'll write more later on that). The trip is $3700 for both of us. We will do our best to keep you all updated on this need and future needs.
1. Give tax deductible through our school/church via Credit Card. click here: Jesse or here for Jessica. If you have any trouble, call us or the church: (530) 246-6000
2. Send us a check, made out to "Bethel Church" and we'll make sure it get's to the right place. Be sure to give us your address for the tax information.
Our address:
5216 Mica Ct.
Redding CA 96003

3. If you aren't concerned about your gift being tax deductible, you can make the check out to Jesse Skinner and send it to our address above.

We will update the blog as the amount needed changes. If you would like to give to us outside of this missions trip, either monthly or a one time amount, you can email me and we can figure out the best way to do this.

Oh my! We love you all! Lot's of stuff has been going on and we will write more later!

Jesse

My Latest Concoctions

2010-10-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

FIRST CRAZY CONCOCTION: KOMBUCHA!
Summer time is perfect for making Kombucha since it likes to grow at a temperature of about 80 degrees. Since summer stayed late here in Redding, I started making this about 2 weeks ago and already have my first batch! Tastes waaaay better than store bought, SUPER easy to make and each bottle comes out to about $0.20 as opposed to the 3.95 you pay at the store.

Here is my Kombucha Scoby on the left, growing and fermenting.
The right is a bottle from the last batch.

How is Kombucha made? Some fun facts for all you science nerds like me:

Kombucha is available commercially and can be made at home by fermenting tea using a visible, solid mass of yeast and bacteria which forms the kombucha culture which is often referred to as the "mushroom" or the "mother".

The culture itself looks somewhat like a large pancake, and though often called a mushroom, a
mother of vinegar, or by the acronym SCOBY (for "Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast"), it is scientifically classified as a zooglealmat. It takes on the shape of its container, but varies in thickness depending on how long it has been allowed to develop and the acidity of the tea medium during the development period. The culture is leathery and non-elastic, similar to a thick calamari (yum!).

Here’s how to make Kombucha:

Ingredients:

1 Kombucha Scoby (either ordered online or from a friend as the mushroom reproduces about every 10 days and you'll have one to give away or start a second jar)

1/2 cup kombucha (I also got this from my friend's batch)

5 Organic black tea bags

1 gallon distilled water

1 cup organic white sugar (food for the mushroom...there won't be any left when the drink is ready)

1 gallon glass jar

1 stainless steal pot

Directions:

Start with the Scoby in the 1 gallon glass jar (double rinsed with *DISTILLED water) with 1/2 cup kombucha

*see tips below to understand the importance of specific ingredients

1. Double rinse a large stainless steel pot with distilled water.

2. Pour 3 quarts of distilled water and 1 cup of sugar into pot and bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, pull off the stove and steep 5 black tea bags in it for 10-15 minutes (or overnight when I forget!).

4. Let cool overnight or put in a large bowl of ice water if you want to finish it sooner.

5. In the morning, pour the tea-sugar mixture into the large jar, cover with a clean, thin, white cotton cloth and let sit for @12 days or to taste. Shorter if it’s hot indoors.

6. Bottle it and start again!

I keep our jars on top of the fridge because it keeps them out of direct sunlight and I think it may be warmer there.

15 tips for making it correctly

Benefits of Kombucha

NEXT CRAZY CONCOCTION: MASTER TONIC!
Since the weather just turned here in Redding and people are sniffling all around me, I decided to whip up a nice tasty batch of Master Tonic!

This GNARLY stuff will scare any cold away in a heartbeat.
Ingredients:
(ALL ORGANIC)

1 part fresh chopped garlic cloves (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitical)

1 part fresh chopped white onions, or the hottest onions available (similar properties to garlic)

1 part fresh grated ginger root (increases circulation to the extremities)

1 part fresh grated horseradish root (increases blood flow to the head)

1 part fresh chopped Cayenne peppers, Jalapenos, Serranos, Habeneros, African bird peppers....any combination of the hottest peppers available

1-2 bottles RAW unfiltered Organic apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Chop up all the veggies (1 used 2 cups each) in a food processor

(wear gloves and goggles and open all the windows!!! The peppers BURN!)

Fill large jar 3/4 full of mixture. Fill jar to the top with apple cider vinegar.

Shake vigorously.

Leave on the counter for 2-3 weeks shaking at least 1X/day

Filter the mixture through a clean piece of cotton (like an old T-shirt or cheese cloth), bottle, and label (I bought an 8 oz dropper bottle to keep handy and the rest I'll store in a large mason jar).

How to cure an ailment with homemade master tonic

LAST CRAZY CONCOCTION: LACTO-FERMENTED MAYO!

Homemade Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise

Makes 2 to 2 1/2 cups

Equipment:
Blender or food processor (optional: you can use a whisk)

Ingredients:
3 pastured egg yolks, room temperature
1 1/2 – 2 cups olive oil (from a grower you trust)
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice or wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon mustard
2-3 tablespoons whey (from kefir or yogurt, instructions on how to make whey)

I added dill to mine.

1. Mix the egg yolks for 1-2 minutes. If using cold (not room temperature), mix a few minutes more. This is the key to mayonnaise that will set. If you use cold egg yolks, the mayo will not set unless they are warmed up in the blender (or whisked long enough in a warmed bowl).

2. Add the lemon juice (or vinegar), sea salt, and mustard. Mix for 30 seconds more.

3. With the blender running, add the olive oil drop by drop. When I say drop by drop, I mean drop by drop. Or at least a very thin, slow stream. This is the other very important element for making a mayo that will emulsify. If you go too fast, you’ll end up with runny mayonnaise.

4. Once you’ve added about 1/2 a cup of oil, the sauce should have thickened into a heavy cream, and now you can add the oil in a thicker stream. Not too fast, though (especially if you are a beginner). If the mayo becomes too thick, add a few more drops of lemon juice or vinegar.

5. Blend in the whey. Spoon into a mason jar, cover with a lid, and leave it on the counter or in a cupboard (at room temperature) for several hours. Then transfer to the fridge.

That's it! Stayed tuned for for more Skinner Family Adventures comin up soon!

August Update

2010-08-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hello to all you not experiencing 98 degree heat. Yes, Redding is quite hot, however I have been told that this summer is one of the most mild summers they have had in a while. Usually it's around 110 every day. We could have moved here later in the summer instead of June, but we have had such a great time meeting people and preparing for our upcoming school year.

Serving a Funky Monkey drink

Some of you have asked what we have been doing to keep busy? Jessica has been working part-time at a wonderful restaurant called Grillabites. It serves mostly organic and whole foods; it's so perfect for her! She really enjoys working there and has made a great impression, already with her hard work and great personality (does this surprise anyone?). She mostly works the juice/coffee bar (pictured). While she works, I usually find a friend to hang out with or use that time to read and play more guitar.

There were 5 more like him!

So with my free time, since I am not working yet, I have really been enjoying my time out here. I went fishing with my roommate, Trevor, and my neighbor, Jay. Although I haven't fished in a creek before, unlike my partners, I was the only one to catch some fish that day! I really enjoyed being by the creek and away from people in the woods. Something about the solitude really filled me up with God's presence.

I also had a great time growing out my first full beard. I was really surprised, as was Jessica, that I could manage such a nice beard (you be the judge). After a while, I shaved the beard and now am left with a handsome mustache. It is true what they say, the mustache makes the man!

Jessica and I have had a couple of adventures since we've been up here. We went floating down a local river, hung out at the local lake, and even jumped off some rocks into a natural lagoon (pictured). We try to get out of the house as much as we can but the heat is so crazy that we lose the motivation to hike or bike much. We find ourselves, at times, at Starbucks playing cards or reading and meeting new people.

Personally, I have really been falling more in love with God. The free time I have, I try to spend it worshiping on my guitar or just sitting with Him and "hanging out". We are always meeting new people up here, and many of them are doing amazing things for God. Two guys we just met had just returned from Nicaragua the morning we met them. They decided to go on a 7 day trip, by themselves, after hearing God whisper the idea. A few days later they had bought the tickets and were on a plane. Their mission while there: bring heaven to earth in Nicaragua. Their coming made such an impact that within one hour of landing, because of some contacts they had there, they were interviewed by the national TV station. They saw amazing miracles while they were there and brought the message of hope and love to the people. After meeting these guys, my own age I might add, I was filled even more with a hunger to see God use ME to change people's lives using the message of hope with miracles and impossible acts of love. There are times, recently, that I get physically hungry in my body for a greater realization of God in me and around me. It is this hunger and desire that is being built and cultivated in my life, right now, that is marking this season of my life. It doesn't mean I get to neglect my other responsibilities and relationships, but it does mean that I am accountable for stewarding this passion and making sure my time and focus are being guarded and directed in the right places. It means I can't waste my day on video games and watching TV. Not that those things ever interested me too much, but I know my future is not guaranteed. The grandness of my "destiny" (my destination in the coming years) literally requires me to focus on what God is doing in my life, right now. I still have a blast every day being with with Jessica and around our friends, but there is a definite intentionality in everything I do.

I am sure I will expound on these thoughts more as time goes by. I apologize if that last paragraph was a bit too much vulnerability and information for some of you. I decided, when we started this blog, that I was going to allow my friends and family an inside view of my life, instead of only revealing the surface. I want you all to know my internal battles and victories so that you know ME and not just another friend on Facebook, and so that you know how to love and pray for me and Jess better. Lastly, I want you all to be able to learn from what I am learning and grow from my mistakes and victories. My prayer would be that my hunger for more of life and more of God would make you more hungry for what YOU were designed to do and be. I can always use your encouragements and prayers, feel free to email Jess and me.

Bless you guys, and may His truth and abundance blow your mind as you see Him in new ways every day!

Jesse

Making Whey

2010-07-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ever since we moved to Redding, Jesse and I have been making "whey" for a lot of healthy changes in our diet. And I've been using all the free time before school starts to try all kinds of new and fun recipes!

It all started after reading a few choice books, including Michael Pollan's book, 'The Omnivore's Dilemma," and Nina Planck's book, "Real Food". The movie, Food Inc., also inspired our "food conversion."

(No I'm not pregnant in case you were wondering...
but we do want to start soon! :))

Living out in Redding makes it easy for us to buy whole, real food from local farms at a decent price.

It started with a weekly produce box:

So much yummy goodness. Picked the day before from local organic farms, the fruit is the sweetest I've ever tasted! I didn't know what plums and peaches were supposed to taste like until I tried ones that weren't tampered with (no pesticides, fungisides, or artificial pollination).

With all the new produce, I had to get creative. What does one do with huge bunches of kale, chard, or collar greens? Make yummy salads!

Here's a chard salad I served with wild salmon and dill sauce.

(This is out on our porch.)

I also started incorporating greens and veggies into grain salads. Here's wild rice with kale, carrots, feta, and walnuts with olive oil and lemon juice.

And then we started getting corn...lots and lots of corn.

And I'll tell ya, it's the sweetest, most flavorful corn I've EVER had. We had corn on the cob, corn off the cob, corn in salads, etc...

I found a yummy recipe for corn, blueberry and cucumber salad, since we started getting a ton of cucumbers in our weekly box as well. Just add a little rice vinegar, agave, red onion and dill and it's the bomb!

My next adventure was trying whole, raw milk. If you know and trust the farm you're buying it from, raw milk is safe and so so good for you because the vitamins and nutrients haven't been burned off by pasturization. It's delicious!

Grass fed beef, pasture eggs, and butter, cold-pressed olive oil, coconut oil, soaked almonds, and wild fish, are amongst the other foods that we've been eating a ton of. And I tell you I've never felt better! This food is so good!!

My next endeavor was homemade vanilla ice cream, made with 100% maple syrup instead of sugar. It turned out pretty good, although it was a little icy because I only used one egg...should have use 2 or 3.

We just had some for breakfast. :) Hey, we consumed less maple syrup than if we had pancakes, and we got the added benefit of nutritious eggs, and good whole, raw milk, so I think ice cream is a healthy start for the day. (Haha! Maybe just occasionally). :)

Since I was on a role, I decided to try making my own lacto-fermented foods. That means food fermented with whey. What is whey exactly? It's what you get when you separate the solid part of milk or yogurt from the watery part.

How I made whey:
1. First I dumped about a cup of whole, organic, plain yogurt into a colander lined with cheese cloth that was over a glass bowl.
2. I let it drip for a few hours.
3. Once the dripping slowed, I attached the cheese cloth to a wooden spoon and let it continue to drip over the bowl over night.
4. The finished product was cream cheese in the cloth and whey in the bowl.

Why bother? There are many wonderful health benefits to eating lacto-fermented foods (sauerkraut, kombucha, sourdough, pickles, ketchup, etc). They are one of the richest sources of healthful probiotics. Probiotics strengthen your immune system, supporting healthy digestion and preventing disease and infection.

To find out more about the benefits of lacto-fermented foods, click here.

What is whey for? Fermenting things. For instance, I had a ton of cucumbers so I decided to make pickles using a simple recipe.

Pickle recipe.

I also made some of my own hummus (not lacto-fermented). I was disappointed to find that even organic hummus is usually made with canola oil. So I made some with just garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic and a little salt. Tasty!

Here are my finish products! (Half eaten.)

(Cream cheese, pickles, hummus, and whey)

I also made my own lacto-fermented ketchup!

Ketchup recipe.

Good Lord, that's a lot of ketchup!
(In this picture it's still fermenting on the counter.
It's supposed to sit out for a few days before jarring and refrigerating.)

Jesse and I use ketchup often enough to make this more cost efficient than buying organic. Plus it's made without vinegar and sugar which makes me feel better when I'm dipping potatoes and meat loaf.

So yummy!

I stored the leftover whey in a glass jar (it can last up to 6 months) to use for soaking my oats and grains. To learn more about why to soak your grains and nuts go here.

So what's next? Homemade Kombucha!

I feel like a new woman. I could go into all the reasons for my "food conversion," but I don't want to overwhelm or bore you. If you're curious, you can read about another woman's conversion, since it lines up pretty well with mine (including the part about annoying friends with all the new food information...I'm learning to throttle back on my sharing).

My Food Conversion

Yes, we've been having some fun over here at the Skinner household. And Jesse is appreciating the new Jessica. I hope I can keep most of this up when school starts. It's so fun and rewarding! But we'll see how busy life gets. At least we'll keep getting our produce box, buying grass fed beef, etc...The lacto-fermenting and homemade ice cream might take a back seat.

If you're ready for a "food conversion," or just curious, I highly recommend reading the aforementioned books. I also just starting using the cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" which is amazing!

That's all for now!
Until next time...

More recommended websites (where I get all my recipes):
http://kellythekitchenkop.com
http://swansonhealthcentercooking.com

A glimpse at our vision

2010-06-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

JIGGITY JIG to all our friends!

Recently we had an amazing call from a friend of ours. Our wonderful friend wanted to financially bless us with a portion of the funds that his ministry/business brings in once it is up and going. We're not sure what that will look like, but it really brought us some serious joy to know that a friend would do that for us even before we even know what our ministry will be! C'mon Father! Our friend asked us to write out what our ministry will look like so that the people overseeing this other ministry will know what they are supporting. We, of course, don't know the what we will be doing exactly, but all the same I sat down and wrote out what our heart is for the future. What came out was really exciting! Jessica read it and the first thing she said was, "Man, I want to be part of that ministry!" And I agree! I thought it would be fun to post it for our friends and family so you can see where our focus is for the coming years:

Our ministry will consist of equipping the saints for "greater works than these." Training in our identities as Priests and Kings. That we have the full mind of Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit living in us as well as Christ, the hope of glory! Discipleship will be a major part of our ministry as we, ourselves learn, and teach others how to walk alongside and encourage new believers. We teach how to build people into strong, unmovable (in His word, both logos and rhema), Christ-grounded, Spirit-led and filled sons and daughters.

We will probably have a church, eventually, where we can come together as a family and be close and worship together. Worship will be the main thing and everything will be second. "Power evangelism" will be a focus as we learn to to evangelize like Jesus did. Power evangelism is evangelism done with "signs, wonders, and miracles" (all of which are designed to point people to God, not distract people from Him). Prophesy will be another major part of the equipping ministry because Paul thought it should be and it is such a amazing way to build and edify the church, and is also an incredible tool for evangelism.

Above all, though, we will not forget the poor in spirit and in pocket book. Our firm belief is that God can do more with a recovering addict that is passionate for the Man, King Jesus, than He can with a luke warm college student who only desires to fill a seat in church and live a "good" life, void of power and encounters with God's word and Holy Spirit.

Everything we do will be based on a culture of "honor". A culture of honor opens the door for disagreement among each other, but keeps us in unity because we honor and love and value each other. When we have value for one another, we learn how to love without an agenda. When people are honored, they are no longer targets for us to "practice" evangelism on, they are a son or a daughter of God and deserve our love and respect, no matter what they believe. It is out of this place of freedom to disagree and "belong before they believe" that we will foster a place of TRUE LOVE, where people come to God because they are drawn by His grace and abundant love, not by our persuasive words or fear tactics. Love conquers all. Honor allows sons to be sons and fathers to be fathers. It lays down performance mentalities and frees people to dream bigger without fear of being shut down because it's outside the box; and dreaming is important.

In summary, we will have a ministry that seeks the presence of God, as we show others how to seek His presence also.

What is YOUR focus? What are the dreams that God is putting in you? What ideas do you have right now? Focus and Vision! Write down what you are seeing, even if you don't know if it's the right direction to go...at least it's a direction! I encourage you to pray into the direction you feel God is moving you in, sow into those ideas. Share this with others close to you and ask them to continue to encourage you in these areas!

Any area of your life, that does not have hope attached to it, is under the influence of a lie.

Be filled with hope and blessings
Jesse

Road Trip! CA to WA and back

2010-06-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

The first leg of our whirlwind tour began in Newport Beach, where we stayed with my parents for 3 wonderful weeks. After returning from Europe, it was a great place to relax and unwind from the volcano fiasco...and deal with the travel insurance people (thanks, honey!).

On top of relaxing with the family and taking care of paperwork, we had plenty of time to visit with friends. Kat and Justin Prince drove up from San Diego for the day and we had a wonderful time bike-riding, kayaking, paddle boarding, and of course, stopping by Balboa Island for frozen bananas!

Justin, Kat, and Jesse at Dad's.

Jesse and I taking a wine and cheese Duffy cruise.
(Did I mention my parents live on the bay and have 3 boats? :))

While in Newport I also had the opportunity to sell my book, "Hungry", at a women's luncheon. A family friend was hosting the luncheon and invited me to join the other vendors. Great time meeting people and chatting about the book! My mom was my biggest marketer (and boy she's good at it!)

My beautiful momma and I at the luncheon.

View on the terrace - lots of women and lots of hats!

We had time of worship, which was nice.

Here's my little table where I sold about 20 books!

The next day, at 5am with Starbucks in hand, Jesse and I hit the road. First destination? San Francisco...sadly in two separate cars.

After 7 hours, we arrive in San Fran and found a gym to stretch out our legs. After working up a sweat and an appetite, we met up with Jesse's college friend and his wife, had a wonderful home-cooked meal, and spent the night. (unfortunately I forgot to take pictures).

The next day we hit the road again. This time it was only about 3 hours to Redding. We had already put down a deposit for a great 3 bed/2bath house a mile from Bethel, which we are to be sharing with another couple, Tawni and Trevor (good friends from San Diego). Some friends of ours were just moving out so we knew from what they told us that it was gonna be perfect. And it was! Here's a quick tour:

We went to Lighthouse that night (a weekly homegroup with tons of cool Bethel peeps!), and spent the night in our empty house on our wonderful (not-so-wonderful) air-mattress.

After a horrible night sleep, we hit the road again. This time up to Northbend, Washington to stay with Jesse's parents.

Luckily, we were able to leave my car at our house in Redding.
This was my view for the next 9 hours:

Lots of pasture and books on tape.

On the way, we decided to stop in Portland, OR. I showed Jesse around Powell's bookstore and we picked up a few novels to keep us entertained. We then hit up a wonderful rose garden...

and took some time to smell the roses.

They were beautiful!

Then we met up with Sarah (our reason for stopping in Portland)!!
(My best friend from college and maid of honor at my wedding.)
Here is a classic Sarah pose, complete with color pulling.

Of course she took us to a typical Portland eatery with lots of hippie food.
Here's Jesse and I with our Kale/sprout bowls (we added chicken),
and that is "digestive yeast" I am excitedly about to sprinkle on my food. :)
Yay Porland.

After dinner, Sarah took us to a yummy coffee spot.

And we found that color-pulling yellow really brings out the orange in one's face.

We didn't have any fun.

Sadly our visit was short. We got back on the road after dinner.
Bye, Sarah!

Continuing on to WA, we passed a rainbow
and I managed to capture the pot of gold at the end of it.

Lots more green,

and beautiful skies.

We were pretty tired of driving at this point and got a little delirious.
Observe:

We arrived in Northbend late at night and fell fast asleep at Jesse's parent's house. The next day, more relaxing, and biking, and then the whole family got together for a big spaghetti dinner.

Here's the fam!
Riley (Jesse's step-dad), Jesse, me, Sarah (Jesse's sister),
Diane (Jesse's mom), Sam (Jesse's bro-in law)
and Elsa (Jesse's sister and Sam's wife) is taking the picture.

There was beer in all sizes,

and Diane baked a wonderful peach and blueberry pie!

Elsa and Sam's dog, Atom, was much of the evenings entertainment.

The kids of the family

And the fam, minus Sarah...someone had to take the picture.

While in Northbend, I had the chance to visit with some of my side of the family. My aunt and uncle, Leigh and J.D. and their three grown kids (my cousins) Anne, Kate, and Michael, all live in Washington. Makes it easy to visit whenever we're with Jesse's family!

While her kids were napping at the in-laws,
Kate snuck away to meet us for coffee at Zoka's.

Later we had dinner with Leigh and J.D. at their beach house, which is just a 10 minute drive from their house in Tacoma and a great little getaway.

Here's Aunt Leigh "throwin something together." :)

My Aunt Leigh is a phenomenal cook and her "let me just see what I can throw together" always turns out to be a gourmet meal.

Here's what she rounded up and prepared:
A beat salad with goat cheese and toasted walnuts.

YUM!

Aunt Leigh and me (iphone lighting isn't the best).

Jesse and Uncle J.D.

As we were leaving for the evening we were offered the house for a few nights! Woohoo!

The next day we packed up our stuff and "moved in" to Leigh and J.D.'s beach house on the Sound at Salmon Beach, Tacoma. All the houses are built on stilts right out over the sound since the tides swing by about 15 feet every day. Their beach house has such a fun, rustic feel to it, with all kinds of fishing/ boating memorabilia. We spent 3 wonderful nights there.

Here's the front.

Entering the house...

The "master bedroom" upstairs, with AMAZING views!

From upstairs looking down over the railing.

Downstairs

View of the front from the water

Out on the porch...it was so gorgeous there!

That night we got to have dinner with my other cousin, Ann, and her husband Eric who also live in Tacoma. Ann cooked us up a yummy Thai peanut soup. Sadly, I didn't take pictures, but Jesse managed to snap a few of the kids.

Here's Hayden.

And precious Clara.

Our second day, Jesse and I went exploring a nearby park...
I forgot to mention the 300 steps we had to climb to and from the beach.
Sucks when you forget something.

View of the beach house (the smaller brown one) from the stairs.

In the woods we found this thing, and Jesse climbed it.

A huge uprooted tree.

Experimenting with color pulling

We had a wonderful lunch on the deck
just before the rain hit.

And did LOTS of reading while the rain came down.

After the rain finally let up, we ventured out for dinner at Anthony's,
then returned to chop some wood for our fire.
Go honey, go!

Out on the deck.

We partook of some yummy Cold Stone ice cream sandies,

and watched the jelly fish float by.

The current is really fast so the jellies were haulin!

God is so cool.

High school picture pose.

Then we had some fun...
These are for you, Aunt Leigh and Uncle J.D.!

Thanks for letting us stay at your beach house!

The next morning at 6am we woke up to this!
Luckily I snapped 2 pictures while half asleep and lying in bed
because 2 hours later the rains started up again.

That morning we packed up our stuff jumped in the car and began the 9 hour journey back down to Redding. And so concludes our 2 months of traveling and visiting.
Stay posted for "Life in Redding," updates!

New Season

2010-06-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

So I just finished nine wonderful and fun years in the Navy as of April first, got married almost two years ago and moved to a new city...I guess that qualifies as a "new season". I think it's important to notice when we are moving into a new season of our lives. Why, aren’t we still living the same life, just another day, another job, another year? However, when you start something new, you often do not have a lot of experience at it or maybe you don’t have a “view” for what IT is supposed to look like.

In a new season, you often do not know how to proceed, much less succeed. If you are used to knowing how to act or feel on a given “normal” day, you suddenly find yourself trying to figure out how to react to the new season life. How do I proceed? How do I start my day? How do I excel (when you are used to excelling in your past season)? Great questions, but these are the things that cause amazing amounts of anxiety and stress and fear (in me too!). My great friend David told me recently, “You have never been here before. This is a new place.” He was right! I have never been out of the Navy. I have never had to look for a job. I have always had my days pretty well planned out for me because of the familiarity of the last season. What David was telling me is that God provides grace and mercy for being in new territory. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning great is your faithfulness.” Every new day/season has new grace and mercy to accomplish it! Don’t be hard on yourself because you aren’t able to run at full speed yet, it’s a new season. Receive from God the grace and mercy required to have PEACE as you begin anew. Without peace, you are in extreme danger of losing your JOY and happiness (nothing good comes from losing your peace).

So I am in a new season. HA! Woohoo! I do have to constantly remind myself though that I can take it slow and don’t have to know what I will do today. I’ve been looking for a job since I got here, but I’m not worried. God has always taken care of me in every situation and I doubt he is picking this month to change something he has done for eternities, hahahah! By the way, I don’t like typing “lol”, it has no emotion, “bwhaahaaahahaa” says so much more, don’t you think?

Since I don’t have a job, I have enrolled and was accepted at the Bethel School of Worship. It’s a three week school that teaches all aspects of worship and musicianship from acoustic guitar technique to vocals to painting (which is also a form of worshipping God). The day is 10am to 5pm so I will be busy. I will still be visiting the places I have applied to but if I don’t get a job until after the school is over, I won’t be disappointed. I have wanted to attend this school for a couple years now. It has around 400 students and has a number of really talented musicians teaching the classes.

Life is good! Jessica and I are making a ton of great friends and doing well. We should be floating down the Sacramento River tomorrow on some rafts with some friends (never done that before!). We love all our family and friends out there praying for us and believing in us! We need all your love!

Jesse
(I hope to talk more about how my dreams have changed in this newness!)

Our National Eating Disorder

2010-05-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

I've recently been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I haven't finished it yet, but am already changed by its contents. The book describes the food industry, focusing on how corn has invaded every piece of food we put into our mouths and why that is harmful. Mainly because our food is so stripped of nutrients that we are never fully satiated.

I don't want to do a book report - you'll have to read the book yourself, and I recommend you do - however, I do want to quote a piece of the introduction that for me, shed light on why America has such a problem with food and weight.

Pollan poses the question, "How did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell us where our food comes from and nutritionists to determine the dinner menu?"

He then goes on to highlight the absurdity of the situation, bringing up such instances as the disappearance of bread from the dinner table back in 2002, when carbophobia seized the country. The cause of this national spasm? A "perfect media storm of diet books, scientific studies, and one timely magazine article."

But before then, red meat and fat were the culprits. That was because in 1977, under the Carter administration, the Senate issued set of "dietary goals", warning us to lay off the red meat. And we obeyed. Until, of course, we were told, it wasn't fat that made us fat, but carbs.

"Within months, supermarket shelves were restocked and restaurant menus rewritten to reflect the new nutritional wisdom."

No wonder we don't know what to have for dinner.

Pollan claims that, "So violent a change in a culture's eating habits is surely the sign of a national eating disorder."

The problem, he points out, is that because we are a relatively new nation, we don't have a deeply rooted culture of food. A culture with deeply rooted traditions surrounding food would not need the government to determine the nation's "dietary goals" or the shape of the anomaly known as the "food pyramid." Nor would it need to shell out millions of dollars for a slew of new diet books every January. A country with a stable food culture wouldn't fall victim to the dizzying pendulum swings of food scares and food fads, every few years championing one food group and demonizing another.

How did we ever create so much stress, anxiety, and uncertainty around something as simple as eating a meal.

If we lived in a culture where we didn't confuse protein bars with meals, or diet drinks with a healthy lifestyle, we wouldn't be nearly as fat, or unnaturally skinny - living fearful of grocery store shelves and restaurant menus.

And we wouldn't be surprised to find that other countries, such as France and Italy, determine their dinner menus "on the basis of such quaint and unscientific criteria as pleasure and tradition," eating all manner of "unhealthy foods" and winding up much happier and healthier in their eating than we are.

Delving further into the book, I found that most of our food fears arise out of how we process food. We no longer go out to our garden and pick a tomato. We have an entire shelf of tomatoes, from stewed to diced, and from organic to vine-ripened. No wonder we're confused. We have no idea what things are made out of! Not to mention the fact the the corn industry has taken over everything for the sake of cheap production - even the production of meat.

But like I said, I don't want to do a book report. I want you to read the book.

For me, The Omnivore's Dilemma has helped me see that natural foods are always good. I can eat a piece of spelt bread slathered with almond butter and honey, and not think twice about how it might make me fat. I simply enjoy it, having confidence in eating the food that God has created. I don't have to feel guilty that I didn't drink a fat-free, sugar-free shake for breakfast instead. I can eat a juicy piece of grass-fed beef and not worry that I didn't buy the extra lean turkey meat. Grass-fed is the natural way cows grow, and I can trust in the way God created our food.

I don't need to hide or be ashamed for eating chocolate because all the diet books make it the national sign of a "careless and unhealthy eater". I don't need a magazine article to tell me what's for dinner. I can trust in my inner hunger signals, and know that it's OK to slow down and take pleasure in food.

I wish that our nation could back to a much more natural way of eating. If we could just trust in what was created for us to eat (naturally grown and naturally raised food), our fears would be eliminated and our national eating disorder absolved.

Our Backpacking Adventure! - Part 4 - Marid!

2010-05-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Madrid late at night, trying to find our hostel.
Luckily, the guy working there came out to the metro station to help us find our way.
As we entered the stairwell to the hostel, we quickly realized the mistake we made in booking a room there. The whole place smelled like fish (!) because it was next to a fish market.
I'll let the video describe the rest:

We got out of the fish hostel as fast as we could and found a Starbucks to relax in while waiting for our hotel room to open up.
My parents wanted to help us get back to the states so they hooked us up with two nights in this awesome hotel in Madrid.
Slight upgrade.
Then we went shopping!
After walking for a few ours we found a park to relax in.
Please note the Starbucks cup. Yes this is the 2nd one of the day.
He had to make up for lost time.

After a long nap in the room, we met up with our family friends the Heck's who were in Madrid on their way back from Israel.
Haley and Jesse, playing with their food.

The Paella crawdad wanted a drink.
Mr. Heck, keeping us on our toes.
Jesse and I decided to find our way home by foot. Always a fun idea.

The next morning we set out in search of San Miguel Market,
recommended to us by the Heck's.
Found it!
YUM!
Hmmm...breakfast, breakfast, what do I want for breakfast?

Bingo!
We shared this yummy creation that was kind of like a thick custardy piece of french toast with a creamy "tres leches" thing goin on.
And I had a banana, too, to even it out.
Further exploration lead us to this movie theater that served Haagen-Dazs instead of movies.
The concessions stand.
Inside was like an old school ice cream parlor.
Next stop: Retiro Park
The amphitheater in the background created great acoustics for drum-cirlers.
Sadly the hippie's weren't out that day.

We decided to rent a rowboat for 4 Euros.
Hahaha. O, honey, you're sooo funny.
Jesse got tired of rowing,
so I took over.

Nothing like a nap in a boat.

Plaza MayorWe loved the tapas at San Miguel so much we came back for lunch.
I found a new found love for wine and cheese. Heaven!Inside the market.
Later that night we met up with Jesse's friends from WA, Mike and his girlfriend Azure, who also just happened to be in Madrid on their way home from a 3 month journey.
Their friend Margit took us to this awesome little tapas bar and schooled us on each type of food, where the meat and cheese comes from, etc..

Drinking wine out of these little saucer cups is a Spanish tradition.
Best greasy food ever!

We had a great time philosophizing about God and the origin of love and peace in this wonderfully LOUD and smoke-filled bar.

We always have the best time sharing life with friends.
Great way to end our European tour.
The next day at the airport, we had some fun waiting in a line at the AeroMexico check-in.
We had to fly through Mexico City to get home.
Second leg of the journey and feeling sleep deprived,
happy to be almost home.

And so concludes this backpacking adventure.
We hope you enjoyed the ride!

Our Backpacking Adventure! Part 3 - Lisbon

2010-05-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

From Lagos, Portugal, we took a train back to Lisbon
It's always an adventure coming out of the metro station in a new city
and trying to find your hostel.
After asking a local for directions,
we walked up 4 flights of stairs to arrive at Rossio Hostel!
Great place to hang out and meet fun people!
If you go to Lisbon and need a hostel, I highly recommend Rossio!
Our room was wonderful!
With an amazing view of the city square.
And you can see a castle at the very top of the hill behind the statue.
In typical Jesse and Jessica fashion, we set out right away to explore the castle.
We took a trolley to the top of the hill as the rain began to pour!
Amazing views from the top!
As we were video taping a water spout started forming right in front of us!
I love this one. Looks so surreal.Through the castle walls we had an amazing view of the harbor. It was so weird as I realized I had been there before in 2002 while studying abroad in Spain.
Inside the castle walls we found wild peacocks!
And lions!
Great day to explore a castle.
After much exploration, we continued up through the city, which is very hilly like San Francisco. Good for the glutes.
We found a church with a big red door and decided to take a peek inside.
A look back at the castle.
There are a few things that really typify Lisbon:
1) The red and white buildings and auburn rooftops,
2) The bread, cheese, and sardine pate
that they insist on putting on your table at every meal,
and then charge you for if you eat it,
but just throw it back in the bin for the next table if you don't
3) The tile, which can be found in various patterns
on nearly every building in the city.
4) The pastry shops,
which we sampled from quite often
(good thing we were always walking!)
and 5) The city squares,
which typically had some sort of black and white pattern on the ground,
and which were located in just about every block of the city .

We went out that night for one of our best meals in Portugal!
The salmon was amazing!!
The next morning we enjoyed another perk of the hostel:
free hot breakfast, made to order from an adorable Portuguese woman.
"Would you like eggs and toast, or crepes?"
Yes and yes!
Nothing like the Word to start the day
We booked a day tour to Sintra (10am-6:30pm).
Turned out we had a private tour in a car because the tour van was filled with school children.
Lucky us.
First stop was a castle located through this crazy little rain forest.
The king at the time had imported trees and plants from the Americas, creating a mini ecosystem around the castle.
Very eerie and misty! AND COLD!
Looking out into the "garden"
And back through the forest

to the lower garden where we had some fun with the shrubs.

Onward to another old residence...
"Quinta da Regaleira"
This place was renown for its enchanting and romantic garden.
The garden was amazing!

Typical Portuguese tilework.
Lots of statues (He may not be tame, but He's GOOD!),crazy streams, pools and waterfalls,
and scary dark tunnels and secret passageways
(I got a little scared),
take a journey with me through the tunnels!

Here's the top of the spiral staircase we climed.

There we lots of beautiful towers,

and hidden places to do this!
Ahahaha!
The inside of the palace was cool too.

Then back in the car to Old Town Sintra for lunch and of course their famous pastries!
Inside the pastry shop.
We learned that every town in Portugal has a pastry they're known for,
and that you MUST try. :)
Got pretty tired of not having to-go cups for our coffee though.
Where's my grande coffee with room?Spent some time walking around Old Town Sintra.
Came across a specialty shop
and sampled their famous cherry liquor, served in a chocolate cup.
After strolling the streets we hoped back into the car for our next stop:
The most western point in all of Europe!!
(The hiiiiiills are aliiiiiive! Laaaa, la, la, laaaaa!)
We walked all the way down to the tip,
and the wind was HOWLING!
Check out this footage!

Beautiful rolling hills,
a light house,
and this cross
marked the spot of the most western point in all of Europe.
Trying to smile against the wind was hard work!
And we jumped back into the car to finish the tour off
by stopping at a surf spot.

and sitting in a cafe for a little snack while the heavens opened
and the rain began to pour (perfect timing once again).
We watched as this poor little frigate battled the storm.
Then back home to our cozy hostel
to cook up a tasty pesto chicken and pasta dinner.

The next day we were supposed to take a flight to Munich.
Little did we know,
this was happening in Iceland.
Luckily we found out our flight was canceled before heading out to the airport.
We booked another night in the hostel,
redirected our plans and bought a ticket to Geneva, Switzerland,
and continued to make the most of our time in Lisbon.

And we discovered our new favorite pastime:
TILING.
Tiling consists of hunting down tile
and capturing it on film.
A few rules:
1) You can never photograph the same type of tile twice.
2) You must find tile that is located just such
that your friend can take a picture of you standing in front of it.
3) The slab of tile must also be large enough to create an adequate background.
4) When photographed you must never use the same expression twice.
It got pretty crazy.

A little worship back at the hostel,
and then off to beddy-bye for an early wake-up to get to the airportShared a cab with some German friends to the airport at 5:00am for a 7:30 flight.
Our flight status said "Info at 7:30."
Great.

Drink up, Honey!
So...tired.
Ultimately, we waited 'til 7 to find out our flight was
CANCELED.

We redirected again, this time buying a flight to Barcelona.
Spain's safe, right?

At least we weren't alone. Many of our other fellow hostel-mates
were in the same boat, re-booking extra nights.
Misery loves company!
We did what came to be known as the
"Walk of shame" back up the hostel stairs with our packs.
We were luckily able to book another night because other travelers,
who couldn't get to Portugal, were canceling.

More touring!
Where to?
A 20 minute bus ride led us to Belem,
where we found this beautiful monastery.
With amazing architecture!

A monument commemorating Portuguese voyage and discovery.A beautiful Saturday on the bay.

Puttin' our feet up on the steps of an old fort,
before venturing inside.
Back through a park,
Jesse found Starbucks!
And we found out that Portuguese people have no idea what to do in a Starbucks (apparently they're new). It was hilarious watching people coming in with confused expressions, cautiously approaching the counter, gazing at the menu in a daze. Jesse ordered like a pro, then the barista very slowly and with much emphasis asked, "May I please have your name sir. Thank you. Your drink will be over there (pointing), on the counter when it is ready."
Ha! We were dying!
And we kept tiling.

At dinner I wanted to try a Portuguese beer.
"Um, excuse me. I ordered the large beer."Here's to our last night in Lisbon! ...Hopefully.Once again, waiting for our flight. This time to Barcelona.
My grumpy frumpy face. Other disgruntled travelers.

After waiting in line for an hour we got to the front only to find out our flight was
CANCELED.Frustrated and desperate to go somewhere, anywhere, we waited in another line and booked a flight to Madrid for later that afternoon.
Walk of shame back to the hostel for a little facebooking and reconnection with hostel friends to vent our frustration.
(no more touring please).
A few hours later...our flight made it out!!
Madrid, here we come!!

Jesse and I learned the hard way that volcanic eruptions make air travel very difficult. A total of 23 airports in Northern Europe were completely shut down. (That meant all the trains were backed up, too.) Apparently the ash contains glass particles that rip airplane engines to shreds. No bueno.
So, we stuck to traveling in the south (although we wanted to meet up with our friends in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), and got out of there early to avoid further frustration with travel delays.

Our Backpacking Adventure! Part 2 - Lagos

2010-05-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the airport in Lisbon and navigated our way to the train station.
Found a train to Lagos (3 hours away) and jumped aboard for Jesse's first train ride!
We arrived at the "Casa Beira Sol" late at night and were greeted by the owner's son, Rue. He made us feel at home right away, bringing us a bottle of wine and showing us a map with all the great local restaurants. He said, "When you stay with us, you're family."
We set out the next morning to the market for breakfast food.
Jesse cookin up some eggs in our "apartment."
Our private patio where we ate breakfast every morningSome views of the property. Rue explained that the concept of the "Casa" becoming a hotel began when his dad let friends frequently stay in the extra rooms. The place was in such demand that he decided to convert some of the extra space into rooms and mini-apartments and thus "Casa Beira Sol" was born. It's a great place to get away and feel at home away from home!
Because there were only a few rooms,
we felt like we were in our own private garden getaway. And, while the Casa was outside of town, it was only a 10 minute walk to the city-center at the marina. Plus the walk was gorgeous!

Lagos is known for it's beautiful cliffs and hidden beaches.
You can imagine our gasp when we came around the corner to see this!

The path led us around the cliffs to the Marina and town.
which we of course explored.
Sometimes just finding your way around and stumbling upon places is way more fun than using a map and going to the tourist spots.
After our town exploration we made our way to a cliffside local restaurant that Rue had recommended. Yummy fish and slow-roasted chicken!
By the restaurant we found this!
It led us to this amazing secluded beach! (ahhhhh)
It was so nice to relax in the sun after a whirlwind tour of busy London.
All that relaxation got our appetites up and we ventured into town once again to find a dinner spot recommended to us. After 30 minutes of navigating the streets we finally found it! BUT it was closed! We realized most of the typical Portuguese placed were closed on Sundays, so we opted for this British inspired pub. Turns out Lagos is a big hot spot for UK retirees. Lots of crusty, tanned British golfers.
After a really fun dinner with lots of laughing
we stumbled upon this park and decided to go for a swing. :)
The next morning we ordered the homemade breakfast, prepared fresh by Rue's mom. So yummy! We even had leftovers for a sack lunch for our upcoming road trip...
...and a friendly visitor who stopped by to see what scraps he could sucker out of us.
We then set out to rent mopeds.
On the way we discovered a once vacant field now filled with cows!
This is a very typical pattern to find on the streets of Portugal. After renting our mopeds we traversed the open countryside for 45 minutes until we reached a little fishing village called Sagres, conveniently located on these beautiful cliffs.
With our hands still vibrating we peeled ourselves off of the mopeds, Lyod and Harry style, to defrost in the sun (it was a little nippy through the pass) and take in the view!
You can seriously never get sick of looking at this.

We spent the day journeying around the rim of the cliffs, first stopping at this point:
To get to the point you have to walk through the fortress, whose walls start at the bottleneck part of the point. We walked around the entire edge,
stopping for a much needed picnic lunch,

taking in the breathtaking views,
interpretive dancing,
firing cannons,
and watching fisherman catch fish from 150 feet up! (they use these absurdly long poles).
Onward to Cape St. Vincent!
More beautiful views and a lighthouse.
I wish the camera picked up how blue this water was!
Heading back down the coast we stopped for a few more pics,
(More empty and ridiculously beautiful little beaches)
and then parked our bikes for a little R&R in the sun with our books.

Before sunset, we hit the road, back through the countryside, past the horses
making a quick stop for cafe on the cliff by our Casa
Here's the front of the CasaBecause we had the bikes for 24 hrs, we got to take one to dinner.
Two on one bike is much more thrilling:)
We went back to the local Portuguese restaurant that was closed the night before. We chose our uncooked dinner (fish) out of a glass case, and they grilled it up.
This is Turbot. Doesn't look that appetizing but it was really good!
Some complimentary port? Sure!
Followed by a little stroll through town? Yes please!
Our last day we took a long walk/jog around the cliffs
Go, honey, go! I'm right behind ya! :)
Something about amazing views makes calisthenics way more fun.
What a stud.
This one looks like Jesse's standing in front of a poster
We'll miss this!

After we got back, we were flipping through a book and found this picture:
Rue quickly told us they were a delicacy and that he had some in the fridge:
Of course we had to try them.
They actually we're that bad (and I hate most shellfish).
Rue insisted we take the plate back to our room, but we told him we wouldn't enjoy them as much as he was (they were his favorite).
We decided to stick to eggs for breakfast.For our last day in Lagos, we ventured back to the marina,
over the bridge,
past the fishing boat graveyard,
to the main beach which is 600 meters long.
Reminded me of something on the east coast.

Beautiful day for gelato!
Just after we finish our ice cream, it started raining. Luckily we made it back to our Casa before the downpour. Pizza and crosswords to end the night!
We'll miss you Lagos!

Our Backpacking Adventure! Part 1 - London

2010-05-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

Our adventure began aboard a 742 headed for London.

Jesse surprised me by upgrading our tickets to business class and off we went, wine in hand and personal DVD players at the ready, for the first leg of what we thought would be a month long adventure.
We arrived in London and hit the ground running.
First stop, Big Ben and the London "Eyeball"

Lots and lots of walking means taking breaks in the park is a must. St. James park provided great people-watching...
and bird-watching...And there were lots of really pretty trees!
Lots of sight seeing our first day!
Then out to Picadilly Circus for a tasty steak dinner at Gaucho. Sad I didn't get a pic of the inside of the restaurant...there was cow hide all over the walls! Mooo.
Day 2 - We took a day trip to Oxford
Lots of beautiful buildings...
and a bus incident (that other side of the road thing can be tricky).
Watch below.

(Christ Church)
...and statues

Arrived back at the hotel after a long day
and went out to dinner with the folk and other family friends.
(They were traveling to Israel together and stopped in London for a few days...good timing!)
We spent at total of 4 days in London and learned a number of things including
how to "mind the gap"
how to find obscure markets and act accordingly,
(Spittlefield Market)

(Portabello Road)
how to drink a "proper ale"
(Our friend Jonathan showed us the ropes)
how to eat fish and chips,

(with plenty of vinegar!)how to find the best cafes (just ask the locals),
how to make wandering through museums fun
(by acting like kids and finding the humor hiding around every corner),
take, for instance, this ancient breast pump (ouch!),
or these ancient wine jugs used to serve children wine at annual festivals,
Yes there are gems hidden around every corner when traveling new countries. We found just relaxing and enjoying the weather is always more enjoyable in a new environment

and our feet were more grateful than ever
to sit under a tree or at a cafe by a beautiful landmark.

So long London!
Next stop, Portugal!

(To continue on this journey, see Part 2)

From London!

2010-04-07T03:15:00.001-07:00

Here we are at our first hotel. Crazy nice hotel down the road from the palace. Yeah, that's how we role.

This is the London eye:

This was taken on a bridge over a pond near Buckingham Palace. We are having so much fun walking around everywhere. Amazing Argintinian streaks last night. Whew! Just thinking about those steaks makes me excited.

Currently we are on a bus going to Oxford. This is where CS Lewis lived. The ride accross the country is nice and lush with green fields and trees. What a pretty country. Sad we can't exlpore more of it.

We love you all!

-- Post From My iPhone

So long to Navy days

2010-03-31T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today is officially Jesse's last day in the Navy. No, he is not "retiring" as that takes 20 years and Jesse's not designed to do that (praise God). But over the course of his 9 years of service, Jesse has learned many things including how to salute,

fold his clothes, make his bed, do a proper push up, start a fire, put out a fire,
fly a single engine plane,

fly a helicopter (the mighty SH60 Seahawk),

land on a violently moving ship in pitch darkness, lead as a Lieutenant, speak PDR, look good in a flight suit (sorry honey, I just had to put this one in there),

etc, etc...

Jesse has served overseas in the Persian Gulf (for 6 months in 2005), flying in 110 degree heat...the kind of heat where you have to ring the sweat out of your socks.

His pilot training took him from Washington to Illinoise, to Pensacola, Florida, to Corpus Christi, Texas, to Milton Florida...

(getting his wings)

and finally to San Diego for his land tour where he has worked for the SERE school.

SERE is a United States military acronym for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, a program that provides military personnel, Department of Defense civilians and private military contractors with training in evading capture, survival skills and the military code of conduct. Established at the end of the Korean War (1950-53), it was extended during the Vietnam War (1959-75) to the Army, Navy and United States Marine Corps.

It was during this time in San Diego that he would soon meet his wife.

"Welcome to the Navy Mrs. Skinner!"
(whack!)

We are all so proud of you Jesse, and I'm so excited to see where the next leg of our journey takes us. Bethel, here we come!

Lieutenant Jesse Jay Skinner
US Navy (2001-2010)

Things are getting EXCITING!

2010-03-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hey all you amazing people! Here is an update on the big changes coming down the pipeline for the Skinner family. I know, I know, you can hardly keep your pants on (please try)! So exciting!

Well, as I (Jesse) write this, I have 5 "working" days left in the U.S. Navy. It was a good 9 years, but all things must go the way of the seasons. I must say I am not sorry to leave in the least. It's not that I didn't enjoy the time I was in or the people I worked with, because I enjoyed both. I am just so confident about this next step that I have zero regret or remorse or worry. Our plans are still to go to Europe for 4 weeks then drive up to Redding, California to attend a ministry school up there that starts this fall. We recently found out that we were accepted into the school and so we are a "go" on setting up the move.

The top two questions Jess and I have been asked over the past month or so are:
1. When are you leaving?
Answer: The movers come on April 1st, and we will be in Europe on the 5th. We return May 5th.
2. Are you excited?
Answer: I won't repeat header of this blog entry for you sake, but yes. Incredibly so.

Some cool news to share, I was asked by my Pastor if I would preach our churches Sunrise service, Easter morning. I asked God and He said I could, so I am super excited. I was even thinking that I would only want to do it if my friend Scott would lead worship for the service. Without telling my pastor this, he replied to my acceptance and told me that Scott would be leading worship. WOOHOO! I can't ask for a better Father in heaven. He really likes me! Since the service will be outside, I doubt it will be recorded, so you will just have to take my word that it will be good! haha! Glory to God, I'm a son! I have really been blessed this past year and a half in regard to God preparing me for my future desire to pastor and father His kids. Some of you may know, but I have had the honor of officiating two of my friends' weddings. I'm not sure there is a greater honor than being up front, standing with two amazing people, speaking life and destiny over them, and releasing the blessing over future world changers. I can see God is preparing me for what is to come and reminding me who He has created me to be. What a great Dad!

I wanted to keep the entries a little shorter so people don't get bogged down reading long posts. I will have Jess post an update on how selling her book has been going, but just know that it has been nothing short of phenomenal. We are only a small handful of books away from the second printing!!

Blessings and Abundance!
Jesse and Jessica

The next few steps

2010-01-19T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hey family and friends!

Hello from rainy San Diego. It is pouring out here and if you can believe it, Orange County just got issued a tornado warning! No joke! We take our storms seriously out here! I wanted to update everyone following us what our next year is starting to look like. IT LOOKS STINKING AMAZING! God is going to pour out such a great blessing on our family that it is going to look ridiculously excessive, but then again, I worship an excessive God!!!!!!

So many things are coming together in the beginning of this year. First, and most exciting, Jessica just finished writing her book! Lord willing, she will be getting the finished books in the mail in just a few short weeks. Of course we will let everyone know when they are out!

Second, after being in the Navy for 9 years, I will be getting out on March 31st! Crazy! I'm sure you are all wondering what we will be doing now?! Well for starters we will be moving out of our fancy La Jolla house. For those of you that didn't know, we were blessed to move into a 1.2 Million Dollar house after we got married. We pay less than some pay for a 1 bedroom apartment, no joke. We moved in after the wedding, a year and a half ago, and though we almost had to move out after a year (we had a new place ready, and almost signed the lease), God stepped in and we got extended until the end of this March! Praise my God who is extravagant! Anyway, we are moving out and on April 6th we are going to Europe for a month vacation! I have always wanted to go and so we are going now before we have kids (soon) and other responsibilities. We will be going to London, Portugal (Madeira), Austria, Germany and maybe France, but everything is up for negotiation. We already have a family that will let us stay in the bottom floor of their house (1.2 miles from Buckingham Palace) in London and a place to stay in Austria and Germany.

After a month of traveling, we are coming back to San Diego to hang out with friends and Jessica's family for a week or two or three. Next we are planning on driving up to Redding, California where we will be attending a ministry school at a church called Bethel Church (www.ibethel.org). We won't start until September so we are planning on getting jobs and seeing how we can join the community up there in the mean time. We have a number of friends that are living up there already and look forward to making many more.

So what's this all mean? Well, for those of you that didn't know, Jessica and I want to dive deeper into the idea of doing "ministry" work full time. This doesn't mean that we will never have jobs or work again, but it does mean that we will probably spend more time doing ministry work than we will be looking to further a career in any other field. The ministry school we will be attending for the next year is called Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry. It differs from a traditional seminary in that much of the school is built around not just getting knowledge, but really emphasizes practical application. Huh? Basically, we will learn about how God can heal the sick, then to prove the knowledge we just learned, we will go out and find some people that need to be healed and pray for them. The school is called "Supernatural Ministry" for a reason and Jessica and I have a humongous desire to see God move in MIRACLES and other ways that are impossible unless He helps.

Jessica and I have already seen a number of miracles and have even taught on the subject on a couple of occasions, but we are hungry to see more and build our knowledge and faith on what God might want to do in the coming years. We eventually feel like we will plant a church ourselves and so we want to gain more wisdom and knowledge from others that have done it already in a way we might want to start.

After the school year ends in May 2011 we think we will want to move back to Southern California and start a family and maybe start a church or join another church that is already going.

So that is the update. There is much more I would love to share but this is already a long post and most of the people that started reading have already stopped. Thanks for making it to the end! We will continue to update as things change and evolve. For now, we are focusing on our European trip and are excited as heck!

I Must Be Amazing

2010-01-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

Fullness, fullness, fullness.
I have Your fullness.
Everything.
You've given it all, even Your glory,
for me.
You must see something special in me.
You must see what I was created for,
And You must have created me for greatness.
Why else would you entrust me with so much?
I must be desirable.
I must be beautiful.
I must be captivating for You to spend so much time near me.
O God, You've given it all.
I must be amazing.

Past Brazil Trip - May 2009 (part 3 of 3)

2009-12-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

EVEN THE TRANSLATORS WERE HEALED!
Part 3 of our trip to Brazil in May 2009

Hey all, I'm sorry for the mass email, try not to reply to all in case there are those that don't appreciate it. I am able to borrow a laptop and so now I can spend a little more time telling you all about the amazing things that our wonderful God is doing!

Wow! If you didn't believe God is real and heals today then I wish you could be here. We just got back from a church meeting. The place was packed with people that didn't even belong to that church. Most of them were there to get healed. We worshiped for awhile and prayed for the glory of God to come. Bill, the leader of the trip, told a couple of testimonies of God healing backs and arms (he could have told any story), so he asked all the people that had injuries with those body parts to raise their hands. about 40-50 people raised their hands. Without laying a hand on anyone, he prayed and asked for the glory of God to come, or the weighty presence of God to come. We just sang to the Lord our own song, and a sweet presence was near. It was really great and peaceful and full of God. I can't explain how it feels, only that we have seen aspects of it in our homegroup I know, I recognize it from our little house meetings. Well, after a few minutes of that, Bill told them that some of them are already healed from being in such a thick presence of God, and to check themselves out to see if they still have pain or injury. At least 30-40 people, or about 80% of the people said they were healed at least 80%-100%!!! Tremendous as my friend David says. After Bill dismissed the meeting he told anyone that still hadn't been healed to come forward for prayer. Our team were the people praying for them. We grabbed our translaters, though some of us didn't have one (God still healed people!), and started praying one by one for a crowd of about 60 people at least. I personally prayed for a bunch of people and almost everyone with the exception of one, my translator, got healed! One man's throat was constricted and was limiting his breathing and he also had some kind of skin disease or sores on his arms that the doctors couldn't identify. I prayed for him and he said that his arms felt like they had fire going through them, I told him that was good! I then prayed for his throat for about 2 minutes. Afterwards he said that it had opened up completely, God completely healed him! C'mon!!!!! Jessica prayed for whole bunch of people and one lady who couldn't bend her finger because of an accident was able to bend it all the way after God healed her. She prayed for a lot of backs that got healed. This list goes on! and on! I have never seen so many people that we prayed for get healed so quickly. My translator was about 80% blind from birth. We prayed for her a few times and didn't see any change. That was tough after she and I prayed for so many people that got healed so easily and quickly. But she said she would come back tomorrow to help out and would get prayer again. God heals, period. We don't know why she didn't get healed but we are not going to stop delaring that the kingdom of heaven is near and is powerful to bring freedom from desease!!!!!!

This afternoon I got to pray for another one of our translators. He had fibermialgia (sp?) and lot's of pain in his shoulder and back, and all over. As my buddy started praying for him, I heard God tell me, "If he drinks, he'll get healed". Clarification right here, when God said "drink" He meant, if the guy would...well I guess I can't explain in after all, basically I taught the guy how to drink the "Living Water" from heaven by faith (in the spirit) and get filled with joy. So, a little afraid of telling him that he would be healed so easily, I told him what God said and quickly taught him how to "drink" the living water (some people prefer to call it wine, whatever get's you "drunk"). God showed me that if he did "drink" that he would fall on the ground under the Spirit and receive joy. I was pretty sure this was from God but there was still some dought in my mind. So the guy drank and drank, then he started laughing real hard, he tipped back and fell (I was there to catch him, this "falling" happens often at these meetings where the Holy Spirit is allowed to have His way and heal people's hearts and bodies). As he was on the floor God told me to ask him if he had ever prayed in tongues. He hadn't but said he wanted to receive the gift. He was sloshed in the spirit and barely coherent. I told him how to receive the gift of tongues and right away it came flowing out of his mouth, he was just so full of the Holy Spirit that is was easy. Well....after he got up, we asked him how the pain in his body was and he started checking himself out, he said ALL THE PAIN HAD LEFT!!   God totally healed him!!! Did you hear that!!!!! What?!!
This is real, not a fake, I am a man of integrity and would not lie or make this up. It may have looked weird to some, but the results speak for themselves.   There may be some people reading this email that have pain in their body, weather you believe in God or not, if you believe Jesus can heal you, or maybe you would LIKE to believe, place your hand where the pain is and God is going to heal it. Put your hand there..........Jesus, would you heal your sons and daughters, we thank you for the healing your pouring out over the computer and into their homes or wherever they are. Amen! Right now start trying out the places on your body that hurt or do something you couldn't do before. I believe I will receive emails from some of you that you got healed. Email me what happened!!! Some of you don't have pain but you know you need healing, you might have felt heat or tingling in places where God was healing you. Get it checked out by a doctor or whatever you have to do to verify. Let me know though, it would bless me to hear the testimonies of my friends and family getting blessed like that. If you do get healed thank Jesus, not me. I'm not the healer.

Bless you guys. Tomorrow we are doing the second night at this church, and also doing a afternoon "Crusade" in a poor area of town in the local plaza. I expect and know that many people will be healed and saved and delivered. Please partner with me in prayer! Thank you all for encouraging me and Jessica in this trip. She sends her love and hellos.   We love you all dearly. We come back Friday, tomorrow is our last day.

Love
Jesse and Jessica

Brazil Trip - May 2009 (part 2 of 3)

2009-12-29T16:43:00.000-08:00

DOZENS OF PEOPLE HEALED IN BRAZIL HOSPITAL!

Part 2 of our Brazil trip in May 2009.

Hello Friends!
man, I have to tell you all, this has been one wild trip. Tiring but wild! I dont have time right now for all the stories, there are so many. Oh and this keyboard is a Brazilian keyboard so things may look a little different. oh my goodness, God is so good and so in to doing amazing things to and through His children. Jessica and I have been well, God is keeping us full and when we are not, it is because He is teaching us something, usually about how to get and stay full, full of joy that is. Our hearts are getting more knitted together than ever, and we are both seeing tremendous miracles down here. Here are some of the testimonies that we have seen over the past couple of days. I promise to give you more details and info when I have time and access to a friends laptop.

Highlights:
We went to a Brazilian hospital yesterday. I was paired up with one other guy and a translater and a nurse that was showing us around. The nurse and the translator both knew Jesus. Well, God so blew me away. This part of the trip I will have to go into more detail later. our group alone had eight people get healed. One guy accepted Jesus after he got healed, we baptised him right there with a waterbottle. One woman had so much pain in her stomach that she was calling out for the nurses to help her. A nurse came and got us and told us to pray for her first while they got the morphine drip. We prayed and ALL THE PAIN LEFT she was so happy, her and her little daughter, when the 2 nurses came in to give her the morphine via her IV, she refused it saying that Jesus had healed her and didnt need it anymore. SERIOUSLY! The nurses didnt know what to think! (frankly neither did I, I was so blown away by this womans faith, she believed in Jesus too!) All pain leaving was the norm when we prayed that day, so many miracles in the hospital. The nurse, who we had praying right along side us because she had Jesus in her heart too, said she had never seen Jesus heal someone before and just couldn´t believe her eyes, she was so happy and ended up coming to the church meeting we had later that night. Jess also got to go into the pediatrics ward of the hospital and many of the kids that she prayed for felt heat or peace or some kind of physical manifestation of the presence of God. They also prayed for some of the mothers also and had them all in tears over the love of Jesus. so so good! She was one of three people that got to go into the Emergency Room, and no immediate results except that they released the power of Jesus into the crowded halls. There was a lot of peace and love in the ER when they left!!!

Later that night we held the second of two meetings at a big church. The first night many people had gotten healed but there were still a few seats available there. Well, the second night, there weren´t any seats left and people had packed the aisles and there were people sitting OUTSIDE looking in through the doors and windows, I think about 1000+ people were there that night. So many healings and moves of the Holy Spirit took place. One woman I actually saw was getting so touched by the Holy Spirit that she was hissing and caughing (this was not a good thing). Ten minutes later while she was getting prayed for she said she had a lump or tumor in her throat that was causing her to choke. The guy praying for her heard God tell him, NO SHES DOESN´T! and as he repeated what God said, she actually caughed up the tumor or lump right there on stage where we had layed her while the rest of the church was worshipping. I saw the woman afterwards and she eventually accepted Christ when we told her that if she didn´t accept Jesus into her life, the growth might come back, we don´t know. My friend didn´t force her, just told her the truth that Jesus got rid of the tumor but that the witch-craft or whatever caused the tumor might come back. she accepted Jesus and her whole countenace changed right there! She was so joyful and hugged all her friends with a huge smile on her face. INCREDIBLE.

well, I want to tell you all so much more, but don~t have the time. we are getting ready to leave in a few minutes to our third church of the trip. God will move powerfully again I know. All we do is show up, tell them about the power of Jesus to heal, deliver and save. We teach or show them how to move in the ministry of the Holy Spirit (love), and then the Holy Spirit shows up and changes hearts and minds, bringing joy and usually a lot of love and tears in all those that want to know God more. ok I really have to go. I love you all and keep praying for protection and more closeness with our Father in heaven. He is so good and we are being blown away with how amazing and loving and powerful the name of Jesus is.

Bless you all!

Jesse and Jessica

Old story: Brazil - May 2009 (part 1 of 3)

2009-12-29T16:16:00.000-08:00

GOD'S POWER TO HEAL, SAVE AND DELIVER IS REAL!

Some of you may know that we went to Fortaleza, Brazil in May of 2009. It was 9 wild days of God stories. I thought some of you might not have had a chance to read them. Here is the first of 3 emails. Blessings!

Hello everyone! Family and friends!

As many should know, Jessica and I went to Fortuleza, Brazil on the 7th a couple of days ago. We got in to the country without any problems and all luggage accounted for! Yeah! Miracle number one! We have been ministering to the local churches down here in the mornings and in the evenings. We have both been really stretched in our giftings and our relationship with God. We have stayed quite joyful though and we can't help it! God has already done so many amazing things around us and through us. We are making great friends with our translators who are lifesavers. It is hard to give a prophetic word to someone without speaking their language.

I wish I could be more detailed but I only have a short time on this computer. I promise to find more time for Jess and I to tell of all the wonderous things we have encountered. There are many miracles happening around us as well as many hearts are getting touched. The captives are truly being released from the enemies hands. So much freedom and joy is being released here.

Bless you all! We are doing well and tomorrow we go to a school/orphanage to bless the kids and others. The power of God is real and has been evident everywhere we go! Thanks for your prayers, keep them up! They are effective and powerful!

Real quick testimony:

Tonight a girl came up to me and asked for prayer, then she asked if I would pray for her boyfriend who did not know God. After talking to the boy, about 16 yrs old, he said that he was blown away at all the great things and healings that God was doing. I told him more about who Jesus is and he wanted very much to have Jesus be a part of his life. So we all prayed together. He accepted Jesus as his savior and friend and we prayed more over him and released the Joy of the Lord over him. Afterwards I asked how he felt..."I feel so so good, wonderful!" Praise God!

Also Jessica had a prophetic word of knowledge for stomach pain, and a girl came up with severe stomach acid problems and severe pain in her stomach. After a short prayer the presence of God fell on her powerfully and she was healed 100% from all pain!!!!! She left while hugging Jessica with a big smile on her face. (there must have been at least 40-50 healings over the past couple nights!)

We love you all!

Jesse and Jessica Skinner

You can say you were there...in the beginning!

2009-12-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

The beginning of the best darn blog in the world
(or "The Blogginest blog you have ever blogged your blog on.")

Hello family and friends!
Jessica and I have really wanted to start a blog lately. People have asked for updates on what we are doing and I am no good at sending emails out all the time to so many different people. The result is that I don't send any emails out! Ha! So, we are going to try our hand at the latest and greatest communication trend, BLOGGING. Woohoo!

If you are new to this sort of thing, there are a couple different ways to keep up on our blogging experiment. The most "non-tech" or low tech way is to give us your email and we will add you to the email list when we update it. Or, if you are a little more savvy, you can click on the "follow me" link and navigate your way into cyber bliss. There are other ways like RSS feeds and the like, but you will have to figure out how to use that stuff. I am still learning. I can asnwer questions though if you have them.

Also feel free to leave comments. This is a great way to say hi to us, especially if we haven't had a chance to connect with you in awhile! Jessica and I will take turns leaving messages, which will at times take the form of what we are learning or just captions of our adventures.

Okay...let the Blogging BEGIN! (I think I just like saying the word Blogging)

With lot's of Love and Abundance,

Jesse and Jessica

*(Extra feature)
What album we just downloaded (from iTunes):
Kristene Mueller "Those who dream".
A great album from a young woman who has spent hours in the prayer room and countless days and nights on the streets of San Francisco loving and praying for God's children. Her music is light, and musically reminds me of Norah Jones' jazzy style at times. Lot's of acoustic guitar and piano with a moving rhythm. Her voice is so beautiful I could listen to this album for hours. Her music fills me with peace and reminds me of God's fullness in love. You will be blessed!